Heart so true
by Moonlight Kitten
Summary: Sequel to Love is out there. Kai has lost the person he loved most in his life. What happens? Will he ever get over it? Will he ever trust enough to love again? Read and find out.
1. Chapter 1: Freakin' chaos

This is a sequel to the story Love is out there. I had an inspiration so here is a more detailed profile of the main OCs:

Kira Hiwatari

Age: 18 years

Height: 150 cm

Personality: Fiery temper. People often get their just desserts, when they start calling her puny. She hates to be called that, even though she is petite. She has a black belt in judo and karate. Trained at Biovolt, she is an expert on spying and can literally appear from and disappear into nowhere.

Appearance:

Hair has two shades of blue, light blue streaks on both sides of her face and the rest a dark blue color. Her hair extends to her knees.

She wears the same type of clothes as Kai. Her pants are indigo colored, a powder blue tank top and an ordinary pair of tennis shoes.

Kira's eyes are crimson red, like Kai's.

Other stuff: She goes to a boarding school, along with the Bladebreakers and Hilary. Kira is Kai's twin sister. Her favorite sport besides judo and karate is scaring the hell out of people.

Veronica Meridian

Age: 17 years

Height: 165 cm 5'5"

Personality: Veronica is quite shy and usually doesn't open her mouth much. She mostly just does what people tell her to. This doesn't mean she is stupid, just that she doesn't have the courage to put up with people. She is also strict on manners and doesn't ever behave rudely. Although she is shy, she is willing to make friends whenever others approach her.

Appearance:

Veronica has medium aquamarine hair that she usually has on two braids, held by yellow bows. The braids reach her shoulders.

As with her manners, Veronica is also very strict with what she wears, which is a snow white shirt, a knee-length misty rose colored skirt and shoes that resemble ballet shoes, without the laces. Her outfit is very formal.

Veronica's eyes are sky blue.

Other stuff: Veronica was brought up in the aristocratic way, to become a lady. She does ballet and is very (How many times am I going to use that word? sarcastic) thin and walks or preferably floats gracefully. She can get rather sentimental at times. She has been an outcast most of her life, but not by her own choice. Her nickname is Kitty.

For readers; here are a few things you should know:

"This is talking", **(Writer's comments)**, 'This stands for thinking',Normal story-mode.

Well, enough of this. Enjoy (while it lasts)!

Chapter 1: Freakin' chaos

At a boarding school.

The moon was full and shone its cold, bitter light down to the earth into a garden. The flowers were closed during the night but you could still sense the scent of the roses, tulips and other flowers. Kai was gazing out into the open from a balcony above the garden. His face was blank as always and his eyes were unfocused. A door creaked and he turned around to face it. Inside stepped a relatively short girl with extremely long, blue hair – Kira – Kai's sister. She was the only one he talked to mostly, although not very much.

"What are you doing here?" Kai asked.

"You should be in bed," Kira said, mimicking a motherly voice.

"Still, what are you doing here?" Kai repeated the question.

"I'm worried about you. You know that," Kira whispered, standing now next to Kai.

"Well, don't be," Kai snapped. "Besides, you're off limits."

"Like you really care about that. But seriously Kai, go to bed," she said, this time with a normal voice.

"Yes mother," Kai mocked.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the one with the sarcasm," Kira replied with a smirk and left.

* * *

Next morning at the breakfast table: 

"School is starting in a few days and I think we should tidy up this place a bit," Hilary stated.

"I agree. This whole place is a freakin' chaos!" Kira snapped.

"Oh no! Do we have to?" Tyson moaned.

"Let's take a vote," Kira said.

"Me and Hilary vote for clean up," she said.

"Tyson?"

"No."

"Kitty?"

"Yes."

"Kai?"

"Sure."

"It seems that most of us want this place cleaned up, so we clean up. Sorry, majority rules," said Hilary, smirking. "Besides, we are getting a new roommate. First expression is what counts the most."

"When is he coming?" Max asked.

"She, yes she, is coming tomorrow at about 11 am," Kira said.

"Enough babbling already!" Hilary snapped. "We have work to do."

"First we need to put everything in place and order," Kira said. "So here is what you are going to do. Kitty can put the books back into the shelves. Rei can help me here in the kitchen. Hilary can change the sheets and everything to the beds."

"What about us and Kai?" Tyson asked, looking suspicious.

"Kai will be in charge of everything and see that everyone gets their jobs done. You on the other hand, end up dealing with the bathrooms," she stated, giving them an evil smirk.

"No! You can't make us do that!" Tyson protested, as Max was blushing.

"But I can. I'm sure I don't need to remind you Tyson about all the incidents between us and how they ended," she replied. "Now, get lost."

* * *

Tyson and Max got to work. Kai's time went by mostly watching that they did everything properly, until in the bedrooms... 

"You're not touching those sheets!" Kai shouted.

"It's my job to change them!" Hilary exclaimed.

"No way!" Kai repeated.

"Why not?" Hilary asked.

"What's going on in here!" Kira asked as she barged into Kai's bedroom.

"It's not my fault!" Kai and Hilary exclaimed in unison.

"What's this all about?" Kira asked.

"Kai won't let me change the sheets in his bed," Hilary stated.

"Kai, why is that? Why won't you let Hilary change the sheets?" Kira questioned.

Kai was giving Hilary a death glare. "Because it's my bed," he responded.

"Don't be so immature," Kira said. 'Did I actually call him immature?'

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"You're immature if you don't let Hilary change them," Kira stated with a this-is-finished-voice.

"Fine, in a few moments. Leave," he replied with an icy tone.

"Come on Hilary," Kira said and the two girls left.

'Now they definitely know I'm hiding something. Great!' Kai thought.

* * *

By lunchtime they had done their jobs and gathered to eat. 

"So, how did it go with the bathroom?" Hilary asked and smirked.

Tyson gave her the finger.

"That bad? Well, I guess I should remind you that it is you, who mostly created that mess," she accused.

"Hey, let's calm down," Rei cut in before Tyson could reply.

There were a few moments of silence before Kira spoke.

"Now that everything is in place we can get the rags, mops, vacuum cleaner and other stuff," she said.

"We're not done!" Tyson exclaimed, not believing his ears.

"No," Kira replied. "But since you have done such a nice job with the bathroom you don't have to grab the rags, you are helping Kitty with the dusting, by lifting the objects on the tables. Rei can deal with the kitchen. I'll take the vacuum cleaner. Hilary can finish the stuff with the laundry and Kai can grab the mop."

They all went to their duties, although some of them with a slight disagreement.

Again all didn't go without problems...

"Kai! Man you look stupid swinging with that mop!" Tyson laughed.

"Would you like to try it?" Kai replied sarcastically. "Let's see how stupid you look with it."

Kira just saw what was happening but too late. Kai soaked the mop and a few moments later it was in Tyson's face.

"Serves you right," Kai said as he continued with his cleaning.

"Are you alright?" Max asked.

"Well, what do you think!" Tyson snapped.

He left the room and when Max tried to follow him Kira blocked his way.

"Kitty needs your help," she said.

* * *

When they finished, the whole house was sparkling clean and in order. The books were put alphabetically in the shelves, all sheets were changed and washed, tables dusted, kitchen and bathroom cleaned to the point where they were stainless. 

"This went quite well," Hilary said.

"With a few problems," Kira added and looked at Tyson and Kai. Kai gave Tyson a glare.

"We should do this more often," Hilary stated.

There was sudden burst of refusals.

"Okay, okay. I was kidding. Keep your clothes on!" She said.

Hilary and Kira laughed themselves to death (almost).

"But seriously now, let's try to keep this place in order," Kira said.

They all nodded in agreement.

Kira stayed in the kitchen with Rei as everyone else headed for bed. They were cleaning up the dishes.

"What's wrong?" Rei asked.

"Huh, what?" Kira said, snapping back to reality.

"What's wrong?" Rei repeated the question.

"Oh, It's Kai," she said.

"What about him?" Rei urged her.

"Promise not to tell anyone, not even Kai?" She asked.

"Cross my heart," he replied.

"He was up last night again," she said.

"I thought he had stopped that," Rei stated.

"So did I," Kira said.

"What are you thinking of doing?" Rei asked.

"I don't know. It's obvious he hasn't gotten over the loss," Kira explained.

"So there's nothing we can do?" Rei asked.

"No," Kira assured.

* * *

An hour later everyone was in bed, except for a certain blue-haired boy. 

Kai was once again out on the balcony; and once again, listening to a certain song that a certain redhead had sung a long time ago...

"It's not goodbye," he whispered the name of the song silently.

He didn't remember how many times he had listened to that song. Every time he heard it, it ripped the wounds open all over again. He didn't know why he listened to it. 'Is it just so hard to let go? Why did this happen? Am I supposed to learn something?' Kai thought. 'I'll never let this happen again.' With these thoughts he fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2: Past to the present

Chapter 2: Past to the present

It is 5.30 am and Kira woke up. It was still quite dark and shadows dwelt everywhere. Kira looked out of the window. The sun was just rising above the horizon. Kira walked out of her room and went to check on the others. Veronica was cuddled up like a little child under her blanket, Hilary had her face turned away from the door, Tyson was snoring like a pig **(A/N: of course)** and Kira was tempted to wake him

up but moved to the next room. Max had thrown his blanket away and was sleeping, his arms and legs in the position of an "X". Rei was lying plain straight on his back. Kira was just about to open Kai's door, when she remembered that it creaked. This was tricky. 'So this is the reason why he doesn't want to stop that creaking. He wants to know when people come in,' Kira thought. 'Well, he's seriously underestimating me if he thinks this is going to stop me.'

With patience she started opening the door. Nothing yet. The door was almost open. At the last moment her concentration fell and the door made a little creak. Luckily for Kira, nobody else heard the sound. She sneaked into the room. 'That's odd. He's usually awake by now,' she thought as she closed up to the sleeping boy. Then she heard something. 'Is he talking in his sleep?' She heard some fuzzy and unclear words.

"No. Not again. I don't want you. Not anymore. Just go."

After that Kai fell into a deep, silent slumber. 'Okay, that was weird,' Kira thought. 'What did he mean by those words? I'll have to figure it out.' She walked out of the room and took a firm grip on the door and closed it silently. 'I have to remember to stop that creaking or it will get me someday.' With these thoughts she went downstairs and turned on the power to the Gamecube on the living room floor. She wasn't very hungry and besides, she would rather wait for Rei to wake up and make something. Cooking was one of the rare things she wasn't good at, just like her brother.

* * *

It was about 6.30 am when Kai came to the living room.

"Sleep well lil' bro?" She asked**. (A/N: He is her little brother even though they are twins.)**

"You remember, what I told you about that," Kai warned.

"You said only when other people are around," Kira argued.

"Still, you know what I think about that," Kai continued.

"Still, you didn't say that I can't call you that when we're alone," Kira said, playing stubborn.

"Just drop it!" Kai snapped. 'Damn she gets on my nerves sometimes.'

"So now I'm just supposed to shut up, right?" Kira responded.

"Smart girl," Kai mocked.

"Why you...!" Kira cursed. "You wanna get a kick-ass-session on your butt?"

"Seriously, like you could beat me," Kai stated sarcastically.

"I challenge you to a fight!" She exclaimed and threw Kai a controller.

He caught it with ease. "You're going to lose," he said and smirked.

Kira made him a face and got ready for the game. Her heart was pounding out of her chest. Her eyes focused on the TV as she concentrated. This wouldn't be easy. Kai was probably the only one, who could beat her, although Max too gave a worthy opponent.

The game started. Kira's hands were starting to sweat and her grip on the controller wasn't very good. 'I have to end this quick or I'll lose,' she thought. The last round was up. Both she and Kai had the same score. This round would decide the winner. 'Come on. Don't fail me now. I've practised too hard to lose. Damn this guy is slow. If I were in there myself, I would give Kai his just desserts.' Kira was starting to lose her concentration. That was when she made a mistake. Letting her defense down to attack left her unprepared for Kai's attack. The round was over and the game announced Kai as the winner and after that, it said "Game Over" showing her fighter knocked out. She was just about to get the machine when Kai stopped her.

"It's not the machine's fault you lost," he declared.

"You're right. It's your fault!" She shouted and jumped at him, pushing him back first on the couch and landing on top of him.

"You should have seen this coming," she said.

"What are you doing?" Rei asked, looking like he was about to burst out laughing.

"She attacked me," Kai answered shortly, trying to get up, but Kira had him tightly in her grip.

Rei's eyes went to the TV. He saw the Game Over sign.

"You obviously beat her," he stated.

"So what?" Kai said, losing his patience.

"Nothing. Have fun." After those words Rei left for the kitchen.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Kai asked in an ironic tone.

"Well, I wouldn't want to beat the crap out of my favorite brother. Rei came down just a few moments ago. The others should be following pretty soon. Making you laugh hysterically in front of them might be embarrassing enough," she stated.

"You wouldn't dare," Kai said, trying to escape.

"We'll find out, won't we?" Kira said as her eyes flashed evilly.

Just then Veronica came down the steps.

"Hey Kitty!" Kira exclaimed.

"What?" Veronica responded as her eyes widened from the scene in front of her.

"Do me a favor," Kira continued. "Go get the others and ask them to come downstairs."

"Sure," she replied and went back up the stairs.

"Any last words?" Kira asked as she smirked.

"Yeah, get off me now and there won't be any consequences," Kai said blankly.

"Well, now that I think of it, NO!" Kira answered.

They heard talking from the stairs.

"I think they're coming," Kira said. "Enjoy."

It wasn't hard for her to find an itchy spot. Kai was keeping it together pretty well, considering the circumstances. His face wasn't the usual blank anymore. You could see him biting his teeth as a crossover between a smile and a smirk appeared on his face. He couldn't keep it together much longer though and burst out laughing as Rei entered the room, followed by Veronica, Max, Hilary and Tyson. Their immediate reaction was to burst out laughing too. Kira stopped and jumped quickly of Kai and rushed out of the living room. Kai's face was back to normal now and it clearly read: mention-this-again-and-I'll-tear-you-to-pieces. With that he left.

* * *

Neither of the two siblings was seen after that, at least not until breakfast. Kira was first to walk into the kitchen. Everyone looked curiously at her, as if waiting for her to say something.

"What are you staring at!" She exclaimed.

"I was thinking if you have an explanation for something you did this morning," Hilary stated.

"Well, actually I do but I'm not in the mood for telling," Kira replied.

"Fine," Hilary said.

Kira walked to the table and sat down on one of the two free chairs.

Kai came in just after Kira had sat down. He noticed right away that the only free chair was next to her. 'Now I have to sit next to her? How is this world fair?'  
**(A/N: Don't you just love the way siblings react to each other sometimes. This certainly reminds me of me and my pesky little brother.)**

They were all pretty quiet during breakfast.

Kira finished her food quickly and left even quicker.

* * *

It was 10 am. She started walking. The boarding school is in the middle of a city, but is quite isolated with 4 meter walls/fences. Outsiders weren't welcome and frankly the students weren't really allowed to leave the area after 9 pm, except for Fridays and Saturdays, when the limit was set to 10.30 pm. Kira had broken these rules a million times and without getting caught even once! It annoyed some of the other students, but she didn't care. The best part of breaking the rules without getting caught was that it irritated the hell out of her archenemy – a bimbo also known as Stacy Springfield. They were both always on each other's cases and refused to quit. Kira got the upper hand almost without any exceptions. Now her thoughts were dwelling on something else other than Stacy.

There was a film going through her head with Kai in it.

'What did he mean by those words? He couldn't be going crazy. It's something else. I almost feel like I know it. What could it be?' Kira wasn't looking in front of her and she suddenly bumped into someone. She raised her head to look at the person and gasped for air. She backed away a step.

"It can't be you!" She exclaimed.

"What do you mean it can't be me?"

"You're supposed to be dead," Kira stated, looking confused, which is rare because she usually knew everything.

"You could be right."

"Anya? Is it really you?" Kira asked.

"What does it look like?" Anya said.

"You look different," Kira explained.

"Of course I look different in some ways. It's been a year since we last saw each other but certainly there are some things that are the same. I mean, how many people actually have this red hair and a pair of clear green eyes to go with it," Anya responded.

"What has happened to your hair?" Kira asked.

"It got burned in the fire and it hasn't grown much since."  
**(A/N: I'm not going to start explaining her appearance now. I'll write a profile later.)**

They started talking about what had happened during the past year.

"You mean Max and Hilary aren't together anymore!" Anya exclaimed.

"Yeah, it didn't work out with them after all. They were just too different from each other," Kira explained. "Of course their break up involves some assistance from a certain bimbo called Stacy."

"Tell you taught her a lesson?" Anya responded.

"Sort of," Kira replied. "It didn't really work out with them, really."

"Well, it's a shame," Anya said.

"By the way, you wouldn't happen to be the girl that's coming to our school?" Kira asked.

"You're still as clever as ever," Anya stated and smirked.

"I knew it!" Kira yelled as she wrapped her hands around her friend.

"I think we're late," Anya muttered to her friend.

"You're right," Kira replied. With that they started running back like 6-year-olds. Giggling all the way and holding each other's hands.

* * *

In front of a certain TV...

"Give the remote back!" Hilary screeched.

"No! I wanna play," Tyson shouted.

"I was here first!" Hilary argued and tried to grab the remote.

She and Tyson fell hard on the floor and Max caught the remote. Hilary got up quickly and tried to get the remote but failed again as Max threw it to Tyson. The throwing went on a little while, before the remote slid across the floor.  
**(A/N: Guess who caught it?)**

Hilary and Tyson were already after it when...

"Hold it right there you two!" Veronica exclaimed.

Both Hilary and Tyson stopped.

"One move and it is out the window with this," she continued, shaking the remote in her hand dangerously.

"How many things have you two broken before?" Veronica asked.

"Umm..."

"That's right Tyson, you don't know," Veronica continued her lecture.

"Hilary was watching the TV first, so let her watch and you can play after she is finished," Veronica finished and handed Hilary the remote.

Tyson tried to grab the remote which resulted in a furious fight between the two. Soon each of them was holding an end of the remote.

"Hey guys! Look who's back!" Kira exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing?"

Everyone's eyes turned at her and the person beside her. You could see from their faces that they didn't believe what they saw. Even Kai had lost his usual blank face.


	3. Chapter 3: About Kai and a game of strip

Here is a profile of Anya:

Anya Saigon

Age: almost 18

Height: 163 cm

Personality: Anya usually keeps her head cool, unlike her best friend Kira. She has a high self-esteem, but doesn't brag with it. She is the kind of person that does everything with feeling.

Appearance:

Anya's hair was once quite long, but it got burned badly in the incident at the abbey. Now it's the same length as Kai's basically (If you try to imagine Salima with her hair cut you might get the right image.). Anya's hair color is crimson red.

Anya wears purple capri pants, a blouse with a broad hem and sleeves, colored diagonally with medium violet-red and orchid. She has black hiking shoes.

Anya's eyes are forest green.

Other stuff: Anya has been assumed dead for the last year.

Chapter 3: A game of strip-poker

Everyone just stared. Finally Hilary opened her mouth...

"Anya?" she asked, hesitating.

"Yep," Anya said and smiled widely.

"Oh no! It can't be her!" Tyson exclaimed, earning a glare from Hilary.

"Nice to see you've missed me," Anya replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"So it is really you?" Rei confirmed.

"Back from the dead," Anya joked.

Hilary let go of the remote and rushed to her friend. She wrapped her into a hug, squeezing the air out of her.

"You are most obviously glad to see me, unlike someone else," Anya stated to Hilary.

"Of course I am!" Hilary exclaimed.

"What about the rest of you?" Anya asked.

This question caused her to be surrounded by people for a group hug.  
**(A/N: I hate that word. I don't know why. Unfortunately I just had to use it.)**

Anya was tightly circled by everyone, but there was one person she had missed very much, that wasn't there. Kai. As soon as she was free from the hug she asked Kira where Kai was.

"He's probably in his room. Up the stairs and at the end of the left corridor," Kira informed her.

* * *

Anya left and rushed up the steps, almost tripping. Finally she reached a closed door that she assumed was Kai's. She knocked before going in.

"Kai?" she asked, as she opened the door.

He was standing at the small balcony; he turned around slowly and eyed her. He had the same emotionless mask as before.

Anya rushed over to him and was about wrap him into a hug, when he suddenly blocked her off with his arm.

"Don't," he said shortly and moved away.

"Kai, what's the matter?" Anya asked.

"Nothing," he replied.

"Don't you stand there and lie to me in my face!" Anya shouted.

"It's over. Leave," Kai stated; his voice as cold and icy as ever.

"I don't understand," Anya responded.

"It is over between you and me, got it?" Kai said sharply.

"I thought you loved me!" Anya said, as tears started appearing to her eyes.

"I did. It was a mistake," he stated.

"You did? Feelings like that don't just go away," she stated and closed up on him again.

"Well, either way. It is over," Kai repeated and backed away from her.

"In that case I guess I should have just burned alive in that abbey," Anya stated.

"Whatever," Kai replied in his usual style.

* * *

Anya couldn't hold up the tears any longer and she rushed out the door, as she burst into tears. She sat down on the floor. Soon she heard footsteps from the stairs and Kira appeared. Her eyes immediately focused on her friend, sitting on the floor and crying.

"Anya! What's the matter honey?" Kira asked.

Anya tried to say something, but all she managed to do was cry.

"Was it something Kai did? I swear I'll teach him a lesson!" Kira shouted.

Anya tried to stop her but Kira was faster. She kicked the door open loudly and barged into Kai's room.  
**(A/N: You all know this is something he doesn't want people to do. He is usually saying "Leave me alone".)**

"What the hell have you done!" Kira burst out.

"What the f#ck is your problem?" Kai snarled.

"Anya is sitting on the floor, crying her eyes of and I want to know why!" Kira stated.

"Ask her," Kai retorted.

"I did but obviously she was unable to speak," Kira retorted back.

"If you wait she might be able to speak. Now, leave," Kai said.

"No. You are going to give me the answer. What did you do to upset her?" Kira demanded.

"I told her it was over," Kai stated and walked past a frozen Kira and left the room.

* * *

Kai was gone after Kira snapped back to reality. The shock of the news was still visible on her face. Veronica came up soon, Hilary following her. Kira and Hilary grabbed their friend and practically carried her, as Veronica followed with her stuff. They went into the free bedroom, that was now Anya's. They sat on the bed with Anya.

"Talk to us," Kira ordered.

"It helps if you talk," Hilary said.

Veronica was quiet; after all this was the first time she met Anya.

Anya cleared her throat. "He said it was over. Why?" she managed to ask.

"Umm..." Kira started.

"Is he seeing someone?" Anya asked.

"NO!" Hilary cut in.

"I think I know why," Kira continued.

Everyone's eyes were on her.

"I woke up one morning and I went to check up on him. He mumbled some words. Something like "No. Not again. I don't want you. Not anymore. Just go." I think," Kira said.

"What could it mean?" Hilary asked.

"It means he doesn't want me anymore," Anya stated, about to cry again.

"No, not necessarily. I have been thinking of it and now that you're back in the picture it makes a lot of sense," Kira stated.

"What do you mean?" Anya asked.

"Well, since spies have to learn to think like the enemy, they have to know how to figure out what their thinking. I've had my share of experience and I haven't failed yet. Although I must admit that my brother is a tough call," Kira explained. "Imagine yourself in his position. Not having much any social life and then you reach out to someone and trust them and they leave you. What happens?"

There was a little silence.

"You lose your ability to trust," Veronica whispered.

"That's right. Since love needs trust, love and doubt can't live in the same heart," Kira stated.

"I have to earn his trust," Anya stated blankly.

"Yeah, but it won't be easy. Remember that," Kira said.

"I can do it, I will do it. Someday, somehow we will be together again," Anya declared and a smile came to her face as hope filled her mind.

"Okay. Now that you are happier we can move on to other things," Hilary said. "School is starting tomorrow and we have to teach Anya the ways in this place."

"You're right. Especially the stuff about Stacy," Kira cut in.

"You of course want to know what has happened since we last saw and vice versa," Hilary continued.

"We want to know what has happened to you in the past year and we'll have to introduce you and Kitty properly," Kira said, going hyper.

"Okay, okay. Slow down, please," Anya said.

"We should start by getting you two to know each other," Kira said, pointing to Anya and Veronica.

"So this is Veronica Meridian aka Kitty. Her hobby is ballet and she also likes to sing, although she is very shy," Kira stated and Veronica blushed. "Stacy constantly tries to pick on her. Obviously since she is jealous. Veronica here is what you might call a true aristocrat. From her blood to her mind."

Veronica's blush deepened.

"Okay Veronica, ya listening?" Kira asked.

She nodded.

"This is Anya. She has been presumed dead for a year now, but came back. She is good at cooking and is a fabulous singer. Hers is the beyblade that contains the most powerful bitbeast in the world, at least in my opinion," Kira explained.

She walked to a locked box and took of her necklace, where there was hanging a key. She opened the box and took out a beyblade.

"Dremix!" Anya squalled and jumped up to get her blade.

Once the blade was on her hand it glowed brightly.

"It's me Dremix. We're back together," she said.

"So let's move on. We have lots to talk," Hilary hurried.

"Right," Anya replied.

"I'm tired of talking. Someone else can do it," Kira stated.

"Okay, I'll tell you guys now what has happened to me in the past year or so," Anya said. "The obvious thing to start with would of course be how I got out of the burning building. First I have to say that I don't have much memories from that time. I remember an explosion of some sort, which broke a whole into the wall. It wasn't easy to get out and I got VERY serious burns and I have still a few scars. I couldn't show myself like that. I looked monstrous. I couldn't even recognize myself in the mirror, after the burns. My hair got its part too. That's why it's so short. My skin was replaced with implants."

"It must have hurt," Veronica said, compassion rising from her voice.

"Like hell," Anya answered.

"Now you know what has happened to me. What about you?" Anya continued.

"Well there isn't much to tell. The same old. Kira teaching lessons to Tyson and so on and so on," Hilary explained.

"You and Max aren't together anymore though," Kira said quietly.

"I'm so sorry it didn't work out with you two," Anya said, hugging her friend.

"It's alright. We aren't bitter about it. It was a wonderful experience," Hilary said.

"Life goes on," Veronica added.

"Right you are. Even if you are picked by the meanest bitch in the whole wide world," Kira stated with a sarcastic voice.

"Who might that be?" Anya asked.

"Stacy of course!" Kira exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh, I was thinking someone in this room..." Anya retorted and smirked at Kira.

"Why you..." Kira started, but was cut of by a flying pillow.

Hilary smiled innocently. That started a huge pillow fight, in which everyone in the room took part and that was heard through the house. Thanks to the high-pitched screams. They all took at least one hit. After a while they calmed down.

A knock was heard from the door. Kira went to open it.

"Hi Max. What's up?" she asked.

"Food's ready," he replied shortly and left.

"Hey guys, let's go get a bite to eat," Kira stated and they all went downstairs.

* * *

A chair had been added to the table, so that there was room for everyone. The seating arrangement had its dangers. The table they sat around was right-angled.  
**(A/N: I couldn't really find another word. I hope you understand what I mean.)**

There were three chairs on each side of the table and one on each end. This is how they sat: Kai at one end, Kira on his right side and Anya on his left. Next to Kira there was Tyson and on Tyson's other side there was Hilary. Veronica was sitting at the other end. This would mean that Hilary was on her right side and Rei on her left, leaving Max the chair between Rei and Anya.

At first there was an awkward silence and every one of the boys **(A/N: except for Kai of course)** looked at Anya constantly, but avoiding eye-contact. Finally Kira lost her patience.

"Stop staring at her! She isn't some zoo-animal," she exclaimed.

"It's alright," Anya said. "You want to know what has happened to me."

Everyone was staring at her. Even Kai seemed interested.

"I've been gone for a year. You guys thought I was dead, but I wasn't. I can't deny there were times, when I wished I was. But then I remembered all the friends that were missing me. I couldn't let you down," Anya explained.

She looked at Kai and let her glance circle the table. "It hurt me to think how hurt you must have been." She stopped to take a breathe.

"Why didn't you come back earlier?" Max asked.

"I managed only barely to escape from the abbey, but I got burned badly. You wouldn't have recognized me. I hardly recognized myself in the mirror. I went through a chain of painful surgeries. My nerves had to be repaired and I had to get skin implants," Anya explained.

Silence landed into the room after Anya stopped talking.

"I have a suggestion," Kira said, breaking the silence.

"What?" Hilary asked, as everyone waited for Kira to reply.

"What do you guys say about a game of strip-poker?" Kira asked.

They all agreed, nodding and cleaned the table.

* * *

They sat down around the table in the living room.  
Kira dealt the cards and the game started. Each round the person with the worst cards would lose one piece of clothing.

It was soon clear that both Kai and Kira were good with cards.

The first to lose was Veronica, who gave up her shoes.  
The next loss went to Veronica as well. This time she lost her socks.  
She blushed furiously as she lost for the third time in a row and had to give away her shirt.

After that her luck changed for a while as Tyson was the one to be nailed next and Rei after him. They both lost their shoes.  
The game went on and Veronica lost her skirt, leaving her with only her lingerie.  
Then it was Hilary's turn. She lost her shoes and Max followed her the next round.

Kai, Kira and Anya were the only ones, who hadn't lost anything.  
Things advanced quickly and Hilary was stripped to her skirt.  
Tyson had only his underwear, like Veronica.  
Rei was able to hang on to his pants, while losing his shirt.

Anya lost her shoes and socks.  
Max was down to his shirt and underwear.  
Kai and Kira had still all of their clothes.  
Tyson was the first to be out of the game and left the room.

The game continued and Anya lost her blouse. Max was the next victim and he gave up his shirt. Rei was after him and it was of with his pants. Max lost again and he was out of the game. Hilary lost her skirt. The next round went to Anya, who lost her pants.

Rei had to lose one more round and he would be out of the game.  
Anya, Hilary and Veronica had to lose two rounds and they would be out of the game.  
Kira and Kai hadn't still lost even once.

Hilary was to lose her bra first. Everyone in the room blushed lightly.  
Next it was Veronica's turn to strip and there was blushing seen all around the room and especially on Veronica's face and on one certain blader's face.

Hilary was kicked out of the game after the next round.  
After that Anya lost two times in a row and left the room.  
Rei lost the next round and was out.  
Veronica lost after him and left quickly.

It was down to Kira and Kai. Who would win?

"I have a suggestion," Kira said. "Why don't we ask them back? It would be more interesting."

"Sure," Kai said as both he and Kira smiled evilly at each other.

Soon the whole bunch of them were back at the living room.

Kai lost his shoes and Kira followed him the next round.  
After that Kai lost three times in a row, which left him with his pants.  
Then Kira's luck changed as she had now only her lingerie.  
Next was Kai's turn to lose his pants. He had only his boxers now.

"One loss and you're done," Kira stated.

"Don't relax yet," Kai warned.

Kira lost her bra and blushed, her face turning deep red.  
The next round would decide the winner.  
The two siblings stared into each others eyes.  
The cards were shown.

Kai won.


	4. Chapter 4: Learning about

Chapter 4: Learning about

After strip poker, in Kira's room:

"You totally rocked girl!" Hilary exclaimed.

"Unfortunately, so did my brother," Kira responded, biting her lip.

"You wouldn't be seeking revenge now, Kira?" Anya asked.

"Who knows? If I have time. School is starting tomorrow and that means that I have stuff to do," Kira replied.

"Kira has her own little "newspaper" that she spreads around the school," Hilary said.

"What do you mean by the "newspaper"?" Anya asked curiously.

"Well, let's just say that it isn't against the rules, but if the teachers saw it I could be in trouble," Kira explained and smirked.

"What is it that you write about?" Anya continued, getting suspicious.

"I'll show you." Kira went to a shelf that was full of some papers that pretended to be magazines.

Kira picked up some stapled papers and handed them over to Anya.  
She looked at them. It was very clear, why Kira didn't want to get caught by the teachers.

"You sure have put your spying-skills in use," Anya commented.

"It was too tempting to resist. The first photo I took was purely by accident," Kira said.

"So you decided to continue..." Anya replied.

"How could I not use this brilliant idea of mine, to pester Stacy?" Kira stated.

"It is a big risk. If this stuff goes through a lot of students, someone might give you away or be careless and leave this thing somewhere," Anya lectured.

"That's why it hasn't got my name on it," Kira argued. "And I think that there isn't even one student in this, other then you guys, that isn't afraid of me."

"Okay, you got your back covered. Let's drop this subject," Anya replied.

"I agree," Hilary said. "We haven't still told you anything about this place called school."

"Hilary is right," Veronica said suddenly. "You have to be clear of what are the rules are and what happens if you break them."

She glanced at Kira, who made a face at her.

"So let's get started with this," Veronica continued. "You aren't allowed to leave the school-area before 8 am or after 9 pm, except for Fridays and Saturdays, when the limit is at 10.30 pm."

"You also aren't allowed to yell at teachers," Hilary continued, glancing at Kira.

"I don't think we have to tell all that basic stuff to Anya," Kira cut in.

"She's right," Anya agreed.

"Well, then after the written rules there are a million unwritten rules," Hilary said.

"Sort of a hierarchy," Veronica explained.

"Basically the more beautiful, talented or powerful you are the higher in the hierarchy you will be," Hilary stated.

"Of course this only applies with the students," Veronica said.

"Then there is all the stuff that follows with a certain position in the hierarchy," Kira cut in. "And there are stuff that will lower your position."

"Like what?" Anya asked.

"If you get beaten, both mentally and physically," Kira said.

"High grades are important if you don't have power or beauty," Veronica stated.

"I think that covers it," Kira replied. "Just so you understand. It's a minefield in the school."

The girls chatted about other things and at some point Anya left to make dinner with Rei.

* * *

In the kitchen:

"So, what is this place like really?" Anya asked as she was making pizza.

"Define "this place", school or this house?" Rei answered back with a question.

"Both," Anya said.

"They are totally the opposite. Except for the fact that Kira is bossy in both places, but beyond that they are two different worlds," Rei stated.

"What do you mean by that?" Anya questioned.

"Here you can do pretty much anything and it doesn't go outside these walls. But at the school you better be careful. There are some teachers that "eat students for breakfast". Like our teacher in math, Miss Montana," Rei explained and shivered. "Kira is in trouble if she is caught. Miss Montana knows what she does, but she can't prove it, YET."

"Well, Kira is a free spirit. Chain her and it will become a catastrophe," Anya stated.

"You think of yourself as good judge of character?" Rei asked, grinning.

"Well, yeah," Anya replied, confused about Rei's grin.

"What kind of spirit are you then?" Rei asked.

The question caught Anya completely of guard.

"Well, I'm umm..." Anya started, but didn't know how to continue.

"You don't know," Rei stated.

The tone of his voice surprised Anya. It wasn't mocking, not one bit. There was undoubtedly pity and sadness in it.

There was a silence in the kitchen. Suddenly Anya cut herself with the knife that she was slicing the fruit with.

"AGH!" she screeched.

"What happened?" Rei asked and his eyes locked on Anya's hand.

"It's nothing," Anya replied.

"What do you mean it's nothing! There is a big cut on your hand, that is bleeding and you say it's nothing!" Rei exclaimed.

* * *

Anya tried to avoid him, but he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the bathroom.  
Anya stood motionless where Rei left her as he got some bandages, to wrap the wound.

"What are you standing there? Wash it." Rei ordered as he noticed Anya wasn't doing anything.

Anya moved slowly to the sink and washed her hand and dried it.  
'What am I doing? I know what's going to happen. I can't let him do it.'  
She was heading for the door when Rei caught her hand again.

"What are you doing? You want to get yourself killed by blood loss?" Rei snapped.

"NO! Of course not, but..." Anya replied.

"So hold still so I can tie this," Rei cut her off.

Anya didn't try to get away anymore, but that didn't help...

The cut wasn't very deep but it was very long. Rei held her arm firmly as he wrapped the bandage tightly around the wound, moving his hand bit by bit upwards Anya's arm.

Anya was practically in a trance. The feeling of someone's skin against hers was so amazing. It was a long time since she had felt it. 9 months. That was when she had felt Kai's lips against hers. She shivered. Rei felt it.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked with concern.

The wound was wrapped in bandages.

"Huh? No," Anya responded, her voice all dreamy.

She snapped back to reality as she saw her face from the mirror. It was bright red!  
She blushed even more as she looked back at Rei.

"I don't want to know what you were thinking," he replied and smirked.

That was when they saw something that made them both speechless.

Kai was standing at the doorway and looking at them with disgust and disbelief in his eyes. He left quickly. Anya ran after him, but he had gotten away.

She dropped down to the floor and put her back against the wall.  
Tears were coming.

'Why? Why did he have to see?' Anya asked herself.

Tears fell from her eyes and slid down her cheeks. She let them run down, soaking her face.

Rei came out of the bathroom and stopped in front of her to lift her up.

"Stop," Anya ordered.

He hesitated a little, but continued.

"I said stop!" Anya snapped, more tears running down her face.

She looked into Rei's eyes and saw the same hurt and pain that she felt.

"I need to be alone," Anya said calmly.

Rei nodded and headed for the kitchen.

* * *

Anya watched him disappear from her sight and got up after that.  
She stood still for a few seconds. Then she left the house into the rain outside.  
She let herself get soaked. After that her attention went to the bandages on her arm. With a swift move of her hand she ripped them off. She heard yelling from the house.

'Rei told them what happened,' she though.

Anya started running. She wouldn't get far like this. They would catch up. She sat down behind a bunch of bushes and wrapped her hands around her legs, which she pulled against her chest.

'Why did this happen? What did I do to deserve this? Kai must be hurt and confused. He probably hates me and doesn't want to see me ever again. What else could he possibly think? I know I couldn't think of anything else. I should have just faced him after the fire. He would have understood. Or would he? This all my fault. I screwed it up!'

Pretty soon she heard some running steps and shouting.

"Anya!" Rei shouted.

"Anya! Where are you?" Kira yelled.

The voices weakened slowly.

Anya could feel the cold air and her soaked clothes. She was freezing.  
More tears flooded from her eyes.

'This is what I deserve. I loved him, but it wasn't enough, I wasn't enough. I didn't try hard enough. I should have trusted him more. But I didn't and it's over. I would be better of dead. No more hurt, misery or loneliness. I'm sorry Kai.'

Her eyes closed and she was motionless. She didn't even shiver from the cold.

A few moments later...

"Anya!" Kira squalled as she saw her lying on the ground.

"Wake up Anya!" she screeched. "Don't you dare do this to me!"

She shook her friend.

People started appearing around her and she was dragged away.

"Anya! No!" Kira cried out.


	5. Chapter 5: The mystery of the red rose

Chapter 5: The mystery of the red rose

At the hospital:

"Who is the patient?" a doctor asked.

"Anya Saigon, 17-year-old student from the boarding school. Was found by her friends, unconscious lying in the rain. She has suffered a lot of blood loss from a wound on her left arm and may have hypothermia," a nurse replied.

The two people rushed into a room, where they saw a pale redhead on the bed.

She was unconscious.

"Her heart beat isn't very strong," the doctor stated as he looked at the machinery. "Give her 50 milligrams of adrenaline."

**(A/N: I don't know anything about medicine so don't be mad if that amount isn't exactly right.)**

The doctor left and the nurse followed him soon.

Later in the same room...

"You think she is going to be alright?" Hilary asked.

"The nurse said she would recover but it will take some time," Kira replied.

"We have to bring her the homework and other stuff from school," Hilary said.

"You're right. This is bad you know. She will definitely have trouble ahead of her when she comes to school. We have to make sure that Stacy doesn't find out that she has been involved with Kai," Kira responded.

"That would be a disaster," Hilary stated.

There was a moment of silence...

"We should go," Kira said.

"Right. We have to find out what subjects she has chosen so we can take her the homework," Hilary replied and they stood up.

Veronica snapped out of her thoughts and followed them.

After the girls left Max and Tyson came in.

"Why do I have to be here!" Tyson pouted.

"It's polite. Even if you and Anya aren't the best of friends I think she would still like you to come and visit her," Max explained.

"And what I want doesn't matter!" Tyson exclaimed.

"She is the one lying on the bed, not you," Max retorted.

"It's her own damn fault!" Tyson shouted.

"Oh fine! If it's so awkward for you to be here just leave," Max snapped.

"With pleasure!" Tyson shouted and stormed out.

Max followed Tyson soon after he had put a card, wishing for Anya to get better soon, on the table next to the other cards.

* * *

Next afternoon Kira, Hilary and Veronica are walking down the corridor at the hospital, into Anya's room...

"I hope she is awake by now. She will have a big pile of homework if she doesn't wake up soon," Hilary said.

"I can't believe the homework they give us on the first day after vacation!" Kira exclaimed.

"What about you Kitty? What do you think?" Hilary asked.

"We'll have to do some homework for Anya if she doesn't wake up soon," she replied, dodging the real question.

The three girls entered the room and were disappointed to see their friend still out cold but then something caught their attention...

"Is that a red rose?" Hilary asked, although it was obvious what it was.

Kira dashed toward it and picked it up from the table, examining it carefully.

"Who is it from?" Veronica asked.

"There's no name," Kira said.

"What! Who would give someone a rose without telling it was from them?" Hilary exclaimed.

"Someone who doesn't want others to know he likes her," Kira stated.

That was when Anya opened her eyes.

Her eyes opened slowly, blinking from the bright light.

In a matter of seconds she was surrounded by her friends' faces.

"Anya! How are you?" Hilary asked.

"A little better than earlier," she responded.

"You have been awake?" Veronica cut in.

"For a little while, before I fell back to sleep," Anya replied.

"It's good if you're feeling better now," Hilary said.

"Yeah, so I can yell at you!" Kira burst out. "You worried me to death!"

"Kira calm down," Hilary said.

"No! What did you think you were doing girl!" Kira continued.

Tears appeared into Anya's eyes as she remembered the night.

"Oh Anya! Don't cry," Hilary said softly and wrapped her hands around Anya.

Kira and Veronica did the same.

"I'm sorry," Anya mumbled through her tears as her friends let go.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alright," Hilary assured her.

"No it won't," Anya stated.

"What do ya mean?" Kira asked.

"Nobody told you?" Anya asked in amazement.

"Told us what?" Hilary asked, confused.

"What happened before this whole thing," Anya replied.

"No," Veronica answered. "Tell us."

"Well, I cut my arm when I was doing the salad last evening," Anya started.

"Yeah, then what?" Kira encouraged her.

"Rei wanted to tie the wound," Anya continued and blushed.

"Ooh!" was heard from the other girls.

"It's nothing like that," Anya snapped.

Kira gave her a look, telling she didn't believe what Anya said.

"Okay, maybe it was a little like that," Anya admitted and her blush deepened.

"So what happened next?" Hilary asked, dying from curiosity.

"Well, Rei held my arm and tied the bandages. It felt so good. I mean, imagine yourself not having that kind of contact in nine months. What would happen? My thoughts sort of wondered and I forgot where I was," Anya explained.

"So, you haven't told us everything yet," Kira said, demanding her to continue.

"I snapped back into reality as he stopped and my face was all red," Anya stated as she blushed the same way she did last night. "Kai saw everything."

"Oh no!" Veronica burst out.

"We'll help you fix this," Hilary promised.

"What's that?" Anya asked as she suddenly noticed the red rose in Kira's hand.

"Someone had left it on the table," Kira explained. "There's no name on it."

"That's odd. Who would give me a flower without a name on it?" Anya asked.

"We were trying to figure it out when you woke up," Hilary replied.

"It must be Kai or Rei!" Veronica suddenly exclaimed.

"Why do you think that?" Hilary asked.

"Who else would have that kind of feelings for her?" Veronica explained.

"Giving a rose to someone, must mean the giver cares for that person deeply," Kira stated. "But is it Rei or my brother? That I don't know."

"You'll just have to snoop around a bit," Anya said. "Isn't that what you do best Kira?"

"Yeah! You're right!" Kira replied and high-fived with Anya. "Let the spying begin!"

* * *

The three girls went back to the house, only to find Kai and Tyson held back by Rei and Max. They were most obviously mad at each other but why?

"What the hell is going on in here!" Kira yelled.

"These two were about to murder each other before me and Max got here," Rei replied.

"Why?" Kira continued and ignored the fact that Kai was slipping from Rei's grip.

"I don't know!" Rei shouted. "A little help please?"

Kira hesitated but helped him.

"Let go Kira!" Kai burst out in fury.

"Tell me something," Kira demanded.

"What!" Kai shouted.

"Why is it that you want to get Tyson?" Kira asked in a calm voice.

"That is none of your business!" Kai exclaimed.

"It will be if you want me to let go," Kira threatened.

"Is that a threat?" Kai teased.

"You got it, smart boy. But it isn't so amazing. After all, you are my brother. A Hiwatari," Kira hissed.

This was a big mistake from Kira. She meant to make a little fun of her brother but what she didn't expect was that the anger would give him that much strength.

In a matter of seconds Kai was loose from their grip and let Tyson have what was coming to him in the first place.

It was a straight right, followed by a black eye.

Kira was walking to Tyson, about to ask the reason of the fight.

"Stay away from me," Tyson said, pouting.

Kira turned around. She wasn't in the mood to torture the truth out of Tyson. She did, however, have a theory about the reason.

**(A/N: Which I won't tell you because I'm evil!)**

"I've got an idea," she said.

"What?" Veronica and Hilary replied.

They moved closer together.

"I think we should have a little game of Truth or Dare when Anya comes back," she whispered.

The two other girls smirked and Kira returned the same smirk even more evilly.

* * *

They all went giggling into Kira's room to plot for the possibly up coming game.

"So how are we going to make him tell the truth?" Hilary asked.

"Well, we have to make him do something that will tell if he feels something for Anya," Kira said.

"What if it isn't Kai?" Veronica cut in.

"I have plan B to go with that," Kira stated. "Although it would require some assistance from one of you."

"What is it?" Veronica and Hilary asked in unison.

"If it's Rei, who gave Anya the rose, he would most probably refuse to kiss anyone else," Kira explained. "So all we have to do is find out if he is willing to kiss one of you."

"Why not you?" Hilary pouted.

"That would ruin my reputation and get the guys from the whole school after me again," Kira stated. "I don't think you have forgotten what happened last time."

"No but what if…" Hilary started.

"We all know Tyson and he would eventually let it slip out," Kira accused.

"Oh, okay," Hilary stated. "But I won't do it."

"It's you then Kitty," Kira declared.

Veronica blushed so red that you could have thought she was about to burn up.

**(A/N: Hint.)**

"Why can't Hilary?" she asked, avoiding eye-contact.

"I have been together with Max, so it would be sort of… distasteful to kiss Rei, his friend, in front of him," Hilary said.

"So it's you," Kira said with a final tone.

"Okay…" Veronica gave in.

"By the way, what was that blushing about?" Hilary asked.

"Nothing," Veronica answered quickly, avoiding eye-contact again.

"If you say so," Kira replied, but disbelief could be heard from her voice.


	6. Chapter 6: School life

Chapter 6: School-life

Anya had finally been released from the hospital after a week and is going to school. There was a total chaos that Monday.

"Is this normal?" Anya asked as Kira almost ran her over.

"Quite normal!" Kira exclaimed without stopping.

Everyone was rushing everywhere to get to school on time. Only Kai, Veronica and Hilary had managed to wake up earlier then the rest of them and had already left the chaos behind as they were at school. Kira had overslept which was very unlike her. She was usually the first one up in the mornings, beating even Kai who was the last one to go to bed. Anya had learned very much in a short time.

"Hurry up Kira!" Anya yelled.

"I am!" Kira responded. "Tyson, give me back that floppy!"

Kira appeared soon from the stairs, stuffing her laptop into her bag.

They left the house.

"Let's see..." Kira mumbled. "I've got math. That means you have too."

"You know that because..." Anya asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Some subjects are ones that every one of us has, like math, English, French, P.E., media & culture and manners classes," Kira explained.

"Right," Anya replied.

"That also means that you will have your first encounter with Stacy," Kira stated.

"I take it that it's a bad thing?" Anya asked.

They entered the corridor of the second floor.

"The sooner you realize who, or should I say what, she is the better," Kira stated as her expression changed from a smile to disgust.

Anya followed her friend's stare and found herself looking at a C-cupped blonde, with the shortest skirt she had ever seen. It looked like all the clothes she had were one size too small.

**(A/N: No offense to blondes since I consider myself as one.)**

She was practically drooling, looking at Kai who was leaning against the wall across the corridor, opposite to her.

The stare of clear green eyes caught the stare of brown ones. A smirk appeared on the blonde's face and she immediately started whispering something to her friends.

"Just so you know, she got here only because she had money," Kira said, her voice dripping with contempt. "She's an idiot and she is after Kai so beware."

"She really thinks she is something." Anya replied, disgusted.

"You bet. A really nasty bitch with the wrong kind of attitude," Kira stated.

* * *

The bell rang and the teacher, Ms. Montana, opened the door to the classroom. She had her black hair tied in a bun behind her head and was wearing a black jacket suit, with a white shirt under it. The heels of her shoes were 10 cm (4 inches).

Kira and Kai sat next to each other, in the front row, on the right side of the classroom where the door was. Right behind them were Rei and Anya, Rei next to the wall behind Kai and Anya behind Kira. In the next desk were Veronica, behind Rei, and Hilary next to her. After them, in the last row, were Max, behind Veronica, and Tyson behind Hilary.

Stacy was in the next line of desks, along with her friends. She was of course in the front row. On her left was a brunette girl, who obviously had a permanent, fake smile on her face. Her name was Heather. She was dressed like Stacy, although more casually, but she still had the same appearance because of her strong make-up. Behind them were two other girls. Another brunette, with shorter hair - Roberta - and another blonde - Lindsey. The two of them shared the same style of clothes and make-up with Stacy and Heather.

There was one empty desk and at the last row there was a girl, who even Kai thought was creepy. She had dark red-violet hair, a wide-bosomed, long skirt, reaching her ankles. It was maroon-red. The blouse she was wearing was midnight-blue. It had a silver star in the front. Nevertheless she looked very much alive because of her eyes. Her eyelashes were incredibly long but there was something else. One of her eyes was lavender colored and the other one purple.

Ms. Montana started by checking that they had done their homework.

"Class, bring me your diskettes," she ordered.

Kira took Kai's, Rei's and Anya's diskettes with her, as Hilary took Veronica's, Max's and Tyson's. They brought them to the teacher.

Anya looked at the line of desks on the other side of the class. The last line of desks was full of boys. Some of them wearing suits, others not. A boy sitting alone in the front caught Anya's attention. He had curly, hazel hair. He looked quite thin, although not as thin as Veronica. At one point Anya could have sworn that he smiled at her when he turned around after giving his diskette to the teacher.

"You may now work by yourselves while the machine checks your answers," Ms. Montana announced.

She put the diskettes into a machine that was connected to her computer.

Kira waited until the teacher was busy with her work and turned back to face Anya.

"So what ya think?" she whispered.

"It's high-tech," Anya said matter-of-factly.

"Of course it is. That's one thing I love about this place," Kira replied.

"Who is the boy with the curly hair?" Anya asked.

"Billy Elsworth. One of the ten best students in the school. He is my protégé; poor guy has brains but no strength. You would be surprised how many morons get in here with money," Kira explained, her stare pointed to the corner of the classroom.

Anya saw three guys that looked like they would do practically anything to you if you pissed them of.

"You have not messed with them, have you?" Anya asked, although she already guessed the answer.

"I had to. They were going to beat the crap out of poor Billy," Kira defended herself.

Kira turned quickly around to face the teacher as she was ready to go through the results of the homework.

"Once again I'm very disappointed at you." Ms. Montana lectured. "There were only two that managed to complete the homework without any flaws. Kai and Kira Hiwatari."

She stopped for a moment to let a suffocating silence land into the class.

"Why is it that only two could do it? I can't understand," she continued and stopped in front of Stacy and Heather. "Miss Springfield, what is the correct answer to the last question?"

"Umm... X is 37." the blonde replied.

"Mister Hiwatari, can you tell me the correct answer?" the teacher asked, moving in front of Kai.

"X is 2." Kai answered shortly.

"Did you hear that? That was the correct answer." Ms. Montana announced. "What are you waiting for? Type it down so you know the right answer."

They had a short break and after that they continued. Ms. Montana taught them some new stuff about equations and they typed it down. At the end of the class they were given new homework. Anya was glad to get out of the classroom and away from the teacher's sight.

* * *

"Next is French," Kira stated.

"That must be your kind of subject," Anya pointed out.

"Well, I'm good at everything. The truth is that I and Kai are competing of the prize for the best student," Kira explained.

"So who is going to win?" Anya asked, smirking.

"Kai beat me to it last year but this year it's mine," Kira declared.

"You go girl!" Anya exclaimed.

The French teacher walked to the corridor as the bell rang.

He was a tall man with dark brown hair and a friendly figure.

"Bonjour," he greeted them and opened the door.

The classroom and the seating-order were the same kind as before.

Anya was a little surprised since this teacher wasn't like Ms. Montana. She had automatically assumed that all the teachers were alike. Anya also noticed the fact that Kira and Kai had their hands up every time there was a question to answer. 'Interesting,' she thought as neither of the two siblings answered wrong.

Apparently Kira was telling the truth when they talked about the prize of the best student. There was still a thought that bothered her. Something was telling her that her friend wasn't playing fair. Anya snapped out of her thoughts as Rei shook her and said that it was time to go.

* * *

It was noon.

"Lunch! Finally," Tyson exclaimed.

"He is always like that?" Anya asked.

"Unfortunately," Kira replied.

They found two empty tables and split up.

Kai, Rei, Anya and Veronica sat to the first one, as Kira, Hilary, Max and Tyson took the next one.

There was an awkward silence. Anya looked at Veronica and was about to say something to her when she noticed that Veronica was trembling. Suddenly Veronica dropped her fork which landed on the floor with a cling that echoed. Veronica jumped up from her chair and ran away. Anya followed her. She noticed the smirks in Stacy's table.

Anya came to the lobby and got a little confused.

'Where did she go?' she thought.

Her eyes came across the door to the girls' bathroom. She walked in and heard sobbing. She walked to the door that she assumed Veronica was behind and knocked. The sobbing stopped...

"Go away! Leave me alone!" Veronica snapped.

"Kitty please come out," Anya begged.

The lock opened and Veronica came out. Her face was streaked from tears.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't know it was you."

"It's alright. Come here sweetie," Anya said and grabbed her friend to a hug.

She held her for a moment.

"What's upsetting you?" she asked.

"I have music next and Stacy is there too and without Kira it means trouble," Veronica explained.

"You know what?" Anya asked, smiling.

"What?" Veronica responded, looking suspicious.

"I have music too next," Anya stated.

There was a moment of silence. They just stared at each other. Then something happened. Veronica broke into a smile.

"I can't believe this!" she exclaimed in happiness.

"Well believe it anyway," Anya said and smiled even more. "I'm your friend after all and friends help each other."

"I'll owe you," Veronica said.

With that Veronica dried her tears and they walked back to the others. Stacy was about to drop her eyes when she saw Veronica come back smiling widely. Even Kai was a little surprised.

"What did you do?" Rei asked as they sat down.

"Nothing really," Anya replied.

"Liar," Rei stated.

"So I told her I had music too next," Anya said.

"So that was it," Rei said and looked curiously at Veronica.

Soon they separated to their classes.

* * *

Anya and Veronica left for music, Kira and Hilary for psychology, Rei for philosophy and Tyson and Max for science & technology with Kai.

Anya said to Veronica that she would come right after her but that she first had to say something to Kira. Veronica went ahead.

**(A/N: You should be guessing right about now what's going to happen.)**

Veronica made a turn to the right corridor and walked right into Stacy and her little group of friends.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Stacy asked. "If it isn't the little coward herself."

"I'm not a coward," Veronica said, blushing furiously.

"How about a weakling then?" Stacy continued.

"No," Veronica replied shortly. Her blushing had faded away.

"You have turned into a little bitch after that chat with that slut without any style," Stacy stated.

"Who are you calling a slut?" Anya cut in as she stepped around the corner.

"You," Stacy said. She tried to glare at Anya but failed.

"What did I just hear?" Anya asked sarcastically.

"You heard me," Stacy replied.

"You said I was a slut. Care to explain?" Anya continued and gave Stacy one real glare.

"No," Stacy stated.

"I see," Anya said.

Unfortunately Stacy didn't see what was coming to her.  
A moment later there was a bright red mark on her face where Anya had slapped her.

"That'll teach you to mess with me," Anya snapped.


	7. Chapter 7: Singing & some Truth Or Dare

Chapter 7: Singing and some Truth Or Dare

Anya and Veronica walked into a classroom. Their next subject was music.

The room they walked into was a little different from the other classrooms. It had a small stage and all the stuff you needed to practice singing. That was why they were there. To learn how to sing. No boys were allowed in the class.

Anya was about to drop her eyes, when she saw the teacher. She had completely white hair with red stripes. It was long on one side of her head, but short on the other. She had a long denim-skirt with cuts on both sides, reaching from the ankles to the knees. Her top covered only her frontside, laces going across the back. It was orchid colored. Just then, Anya noticed her teacher didn't have any shoes, only a pair of white knee-high socks.

"You have a problem?" the teacher asked as she noticed Anya was staring.

"No," Anya replied quickly.

"For those of you who don't know me, I'm Jessica Summers," the teacher introduced herself.

"You're the teacher right?" a student asked.

"That's right," Ms. Summers replied.

"How did you ever become a teacher?" the same student asked.

"I was given this job and I can assure I'm quite capable of doing it," she stated.

There was a silence.

"So let's begin. You were supposed to bring today a little music and show us your singing," Ms. Summers said. "I've listed you randomly here in the order you're singing. First is Miss Springfield."

Stacy gave the teacher her CD and told the teacher what song it was. Then she stepped on the stage and took the microphone to her hand. The song started and she sang. Anya listened to her. Her voice wasn't the best but it was average, but there was something else. She was seriously missing a sense of rhythm. Her song ended soon and she stepped of the stage.

"Your voice is quite good, but that alone doesn't make a good singer. You definately have to improve your sense of rhythm," Ms. Summers stated. "Next we have Miss Kingston."

A blonde girl - Lindsey - gave the teacher her CD and went to the stage. A slow song filled the room with its calm melodies. Lindsey started singing. She was good, very good actually. But like before with Stacy she too had a flaw, which ruined her otherwise almost perfect performance. Her singing was a real torment. Luckily the song didn't last too long.

"That was an almost perfect performance, except for one thing. Can you tell me what that is?" the teacher said to Lindsey.

"My voice," Lindsey replied and a tear fell down her cheek.

"You are obviously a very gifted performer, but I don't think singing is something you should do," Ms. Summers stated, compassion strong in her voice. "I suggest you give up singing and go take drama lessons."

"You really think so?" Lindsey asked.

"Your performance was excellent. You definately have skills in that area," Ms. Summers explained. "I suggest you take Miss Anderson with you."

The two girls left the classroom.

"Next on the list we have Miss Jones," the teacher announced.

Another one of Stacy's friends gave the teacher a CD and walked to the stage. She started singing. It turned out she was rather good. When the song ended and she stepped down from the stage she could see a little smile on the teacher's face.

"You were quite good," Ms. Summers said. "With practice you can become even better."

"Thank you," Heather replied, smiling her fake smile.

After Heather there were six girls and then...

"Next is Miss Saigon," the teacher said.

Anya gave her CD to her and walked to the stage. It was a slow song, which suited her voice well. She closed her eyes and let the words flow.

The song was Viva Forever by The Spice Girls.

She finished and came down from the stage and walked to the teacher, who smiled warmly.

"You, my dear, are a sensation," she announced.

A wide smile covered Anya's face.

"Thank you," she replied.

"Last, but not least, is Miss Meridian," the teacher said.

Veronica had rehearsed non-stop last night. She was slightly panicking. Nevertheless she gave the teacher her CD and went on the stage. Her song was Just My Imagination by The Cranberries.

Veronica was relieved as the song ended. She had done it.

"You have improved," Ms. Summers stated.

"Thank you, Miss Summers," Veronica replied.

"Now that we have heard you sing, we can start the individual guiding for each of you. That means that we won't meet anymore like this. We have to make a schedule. You will practice with me two times a week," Ms. Summers explained. "Veronica, you will practice with me every Monday from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm and on Saturdays from 10 am to 12 pm. Anya, you will be after Veronica on Mondays and Saturdays. You two can go now. We will start next week."

Anya and Veronica left.

* * *

"Can you believe it!" Veronica exclaimed. "No more Stacy!" 

"Sure sounds amazing," Anya replied and smiled. "But don't forget about the other subjects."

"Yeah, but I'm glad I don't have to stand her in this subject anymore," Veronica said, still smiling.

"You're right. It is good," Anya stated. "By the way, have you thought about that red rose?"

"Not much, but Kira figured out, how we could possibly find out who gave it," Veronica said.

"How?", Anya asked curiously.

"Not here. Let's wait until Kira and Hilary come," Veronica said.

The two girls sat down outside the classroom Kira and Hilary were in.

About 1.45 pm...

The door of the classroom opened and Kira and Hilary walked out and closed it.

"Hi guys!" Kira greeted.

"You sure got out early," Anya pointed out.

"We were good students. What are you doing here?" Kira said and returned the question.

"We got out early too, so did everyone else in our class for that matter," Anya explained.

"Well, I can see from your face that there is a question on your mind. So ask," Kira ordered.

"Kitty told me you had figured out something about the red rose", Anya stated.

"Not here. Even walls have ears in this place," Kira warned. "We'll discuss it after the next class, which happens to be English."

"Sure," Anya said as they left the corridor, for the right classroom.

* * *

Outside the school, 3.05 pm... 

"So what is this idea you have?" Anya asked.

"It is about a game of Truth or Dare," Kira stated and smirked.

"Continue," Anya replied and smiled.

"It's most likely Rei or my brother who gave you that rose, so with a few arrangements we can easily find out," Kira explained.

They continued telling Anya about the plan they had made.

Later in Anya's room:

"So what do you think?" Hilary asked.

"I like it," Anya stated and smiled as she blushed.

"Yeah, anything goes with you as long as it has something to do with my brother," Kira said and smirked at her friends blushing.

"When should we do it?" Anya asked.

"Today?" Hilary suggested.

"Is that alright with you Kitty?" Kira asked.

"Sure," Veronica replied.

"Today it is then?" Anya confirmed.

"As long as the boys agree," Kira said.

Anya left to help Rei with the cooking. Later, while they were all eating:

"What do you guys say about a game of Truth Or Dare?" Kira asked.

"Alright! Count me in," Max exclaimed.

"I'm up for it," Tyson agreed.

"Rei?" Hilary asked.

"Sure," he replied.

"You can't possibly be left out now that everyone else is in, Kai," Kira said.

Silence...

"I take that as a 'yes'," Kira stated.

* * *

They finished eating and cleaned the dishes. After that they gathered into the living room. 

"Who wants to be the one to ask first?" Kira questioned.

Hilary, Max and Tyson raised their hands.

"I was hoping to be the one to ask first," Kira said. "We'll just have to decide it with a game of rock, paper and scissors. I'll go against Hilary and you two against each other. The winners will then take it against each other."

Hilary beat Kira and got Tyson against her. She won.

The bottle spinned but didn't stop on the person Hilary hoped it would.

"Kira, the truth about how you think of Billy Elsworth or kiss Tyson," she stated.

Kira blushed, which was really rare.

"Umm... dare," Kira replied.

"Oooh!" was heard from the girls.

"Don't think that I have some kind of thing for you," Kira said to Tyson as she got closer.

"Same here," Tyson grunted back.

Their lips touched, a weird feeling went through Kira and she felt sick. After a few seconds she broke free from the kiss and ran of to the bathroom. She came back soon.

"So it's my turn to spin the bottle," she said and did so. She closed her eyes for a moment and hoped it would stop on the right person. She opened them just to see the bottle stop...


	8. Chapter 8: Hidden feelings and vengeance

Chapter 8: Hidden feelings and vengeance

The bottle spun. It started stopping slowly. Kira opened her eyes just to see it stop on Rei.

"Well Rei, guess it's your turn then," Kira said and smirked evilly. "Kiss Kitty or tell where you were on the night of our first day at school."

Veronica blushed at this point, but nobody was looking at her because Rei was blushing as furiously as you could possibly imagine.

"Dare," he replied and turned to Veronica, who was sitting next to him.

They leaned closer and closer to each other. **(A/N: Notice that they are BOTH leaning.)** The room was completely silent.

Finally Veronica felt their lips touch. The feeling that went through her was amazing. She started responding more to the kiss. Suddenly she was awakened from the trance she was in and she realized where she was. Her face was once again red as she blushed.

"Okay Rei. Your turn," Kira announced.

The bottle was spinning once again. This time it stopped on Veronica.

"Tell me, do you have feelings for someone in this room or go knock on Stacy's door and hug her," Rei whispered to Veronica.

"The truth," Veronica answered and looked Rei straight in the eyes. "The answer is yes."

Veronica spun the bottle. This time it was Kai's turn.

"Okay Kai. Kiss Anya or..." Veronica thought hard what would make Kai kiss Anya. Then it came to her. "Or tell me why you wouldn't let Hilary change the sheets to your bed during the clean-up."

This earned Veronica a glare from Kai and an admiring smile from the girls.

"Dare," Kai growled. He leaned over to Anya. Their lips touched and they were both immediately pulled into a trance. Anya felt Kai trying to fight it off but eventually he gave in. Soon they had to break away due to the lack of air.

"Just as good as I remembered," Anya stated out loud, making Kai blush a little and making the others giggle and smirk.

* * *

Just then they heard a sound from the front door. It was like something had smashed against it. Kira got first to the door and opened it, just to get hit by a raw egg. 

"Okay, someone obviously thinks this is funny," she said her anger jumping quickly to the boiling point. She rushed out of the door. Hilary, Max and Tyson went after her. Kira and Hilary got back soon and both of them had a huge smirk on their faces.

"What?" Anya and Veronica asked in unison.

"This time the bitch went too far," Kira stated.

"This means war," Hilary announced.

Tyson and Max appeared behind them soon and they went inside and closed the door.

The bottle was broken so they couldn't continue the game, which was good for Kira and Hilary since they had some planning to do.

* * *

Next day, at school: 

Anya, Kira and Kai had Russian classes in the morning. Unfortunately for Anya, Stacy was there too, although it was obvious she had chosen the subject only because Kai was there. It was also obvious she hated the language.

Kira and Kai managed to stay calm throughout the class, but Anya was boiling from anger as she watched Stacy giggle with one of her friends and glance at her every once in a while. It was Anya's luck that the class ended just as she was about to jump up from her chair and do something to Stacy.

The whole day went practically the same way until they were leaving school. Anya walked out of the school closely after Stacy. Then it happened. Stacy tripped and took a dive into a puddle of mud, making it splash all around her. Just as Anya thought her luck had changed, she noticed that she had also gotten her share of the mud in the splash.

She ran off quickly, trying to avoid being seen by anyone. She was relieved when she got inside again. She stormed upstairs and into Kira's room, where she found Kira and Hilary at work.

"Kira, what the hell were you thinking!" she shouted out.

This got her some attention from the two girls.

"I'm sorry Anya, it wasn't meant for you," Kira apologized.

"I know that, but you could've been caught," Anya said.

"Yeah, but no risk, no fun. Right?" Kira responded.

"I guess so," Anya replied.

She walked closer to the computer and her eyes widened as she looked at the monitor. There was a whole bunch of pictures and all of them had Stacy in them. It was clear that if Stacy was to decide about the photos they would be burned.

"You two sure know what you're doing," Anya stated and smirked.

"Of course. You don't screw with us without consequences!" Hilary exclaimed.

"Dancing Cat, Halo Angel, Midnight Mistress, Digital Darkness, Shadow?" Anya read from the monitor with a questioning look.

"Pen names for the magazine," Kira stated. "We can't write with our own names. It's too risky if the magazine ends up to one of the teachers. Some of them are already suspicious and some even a little on our tracks."

"Anyone up there?" Anya asked, knocking on Kira's head.

"Very funny," Kira retorted. "This is fun. Stacy knows it's me who writes this but she doesn't have proof and without that she can't do anything. I'm certainly not going to give it to her."

"So what do you write about?" Anya questioned.

"Well, Digital Darkness designs the appearance, Midnight Mistress does the practical jokes section and other stuff like that, Shadow criticizes stuff that he thinks is wrong, Halo Angel writes about the latest rumors at school and Dancing Cat is responsible for the advice column," Hilary explained.

"Actually, now that this was brought up, I have something to ask you," Kira said to Anya.

"What?" Anya responded.

"Would you care to start writing?" Kira asked. "We have one open place for a writer who would help the rest of us sometimes. Work usually starts to pile up when you have homework too."

"Will I get a pen name?" Anya asked and smiled.

Kira smirked back at her. "I suppose you would have to get one."

"Then it's a deal," Anya stated and hugged Kira.

"Now we have to figure out a pen name for you," Hilary said.

"That will be a tough one. You are such a complex personality," Kira continued.

"What does my personality have to do with this?" Anya asked.

"The names are given by the person's personality or something like that, so that it will resemble you," Hilary explained.

Anya wanted to make a sarcastic comment but decided not to.

"You have any suggestions?" Kira asked.

"Nope," Anya replied, thinking.

"How about Misty Lightning?" Kira suggested.

"That's great!" Anya exclaimed.

"I'm glad you like it," Kira said.

"By the way, what is the name of the magazine?" Anya asked.

"Code Red," Hilary stated.

"One more thing. Don't ever use those pen names when you talk to us," Kira warned. "It might lead to really nasty consequences."

"Sure," Anya agreed.

There was a knock heard from the door.

"Come in!" Kira yelled.

The door opened and Rei walked in.

"Anya, wanna help me out with the cooking?" he asked.

"Okay, I'll come," she said and left the two other girls.

* * *

Later in the kitchen: 

Anya was setting the table. There was an awkward silence. She had the urge to ask Rei about something but was hesitating.

'You shouldn't be asking him this. It's none of your business,' a voice said to her. Another voice came to her head encouraging her. 'You have to know, you have to find out.'

Suddenly she spoke. "Rei, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," he replied, thinking what she was going to ask.

"Umm... how do you feel towards Kitty?" she asked.

The question made Rei turn bright red which gave her the answer.

Rei was thinking of an answer for her when she continued...

"You don't have to answer that. Your face tells me the answer," Anya stated and left to get the others for dinner.

After dinner in Kira's room:

"Hey Kira! Help me out with this," Anya pleaded.

"Anya, you know that you have to do your own homework," Kira stated.

"Yeah, but this is hard! How do you figure out this?" Anya complained.

Finally Kira decided to help her friend. 'It wouldn't be right to leave her in trouble,' she thought.

A little while later they were finished with their homework and decided to have a little fun. Kira put a CD into the CD-player and Anya went to get Hilary and Veronica. The song started soon after Anya was back and they sang along with it. It was This Is How We Party.

_

* * *

_

The song ended and Kira turned the music off. They heard some snickering and turned to face the door which was closing. Kira rushed to it and pulled it open. Max and Tyson were on each side of the door and Rei almost in the middle. Kai was once again in his usual position, leaning against the wall in the background.

"I swear that door was closed," Kira started. You could see that she was about to have someone's head on the plate. "Doors don't open by themselves."

She walked closer to the boys, glaring at them, making them freeze from fear.

"Which one of you opened the door?" she asked, her voice deadly quiet.

There was a silence.

"I said, which one of you opened the door!" she snapped. "If you aren't telling me I'm just going to have to beat the answer out of you."

Rei pointed at Tyson.

"Tyson, you idiot!" Kira shouted with fury.

Tyson made a run for it and disappeared with Kira on his tail.

They could hear Kira swearing and threatening in Russian.

"What is she saying?" the girls asked Anya.

"Just that Tyson will be in so much trouble when she catches him that he will cry for his mommy," Anya translated.

Soon they could hear Tyson yelling for his mommy, just like Kira had said. They rushed downstairs and found Kira pushing Tyson out of the front door. She succeeded and closed the door, locking it.

"You aren't going to leave him there?" Rei asked.

"Oh yes," Kira replied.

"When are you letting him in?" Max asked.

"When I feel like it," Kira stated. "He will stay outside for the time being and if anyone of you helps him in... he or she will make him company."

Kira walked away, leaving the others in shock.

"Kai, can't you let him in?" Max asked in a while when it seemed that Kira was not about to change her mind about Tyson.

"Are you crazy?" Kai snorted. "I'm not going to get in her way."

"Why? You could handle her," Rei responded.

"I don't like the thought of beating the crap out of my only sister," Kai stated. "That's what it would come to."

"But..." Max tried.

"No!" Kai snapped. 'I'm not even sure if I could do it,' he thought silently.

Rei walked away and Max followed him.

Kira let Tyson finally in when Hilary pointed out that it was 10 pm.


	9. Chapter 9: Lost in your eyes

Chapter 9: Lost in your eyes

Anya rolled on her bed. She couldn't sleep. All she could think about was the kiss. Kai had feelings for her, even if he didn't want to admit it. The kiss had brought so many memories back to life. Anya turned over again. She had to make him realize that the only way they could both truly feel alive was together. It made her heart ache, when she thought what life would be without him.

She got out of the bed and walked to her balcony, opening the door silently. She stepped outside and smelled the fresh air. She gazed to the stars. 'Tell me your secret. Tell me how I can get him back,' she thought silently. She looked around her and spotted someone on the other balcony. It was Kai.

Anya looked closely at him. He was looking at the stars too. That was when she got a crazy idea. She left the balcony quickly and walked to his room. She opened the door carefully and went in. She was surprised she had gotten this far without being noticed. She was almost right behind him, when she heard it...

He was mouthing the words of the song she had sang for him on the tape a long time ago. A tear fell down her cheek.

Anya reached out to Kai and touched him. He jumped a little from the touch and turned around.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he hissed.

"I couldn't sleep and I saw that you were awake too so I decided to come", she explained.

"You shouldn't have," he said with a soft voice.

"Why?" Anya asked.

There was a silence. They just gazed into each other's eyes. Anya could see a question in his eyes and he felt like drowning into her eyes. Suddenly he turned around, not facing Anya anymore.

"Don't try to fight it, just give in," Anya said quietly.

There was no answer. Anya stepped in front of him and studied his expression. It was blank. Then she took a risk and reached her hand out to his face, lifting his head so that she could look into his eyes.

His expression changed as she touched him. It was stunned. His eyes weren't empty either. They reflected caring. Anya started leaning closer to him and placed her hand on his heart. She could feel it beat faster every second.

At the same time there was a battle of desire and instinct going on in Kai's mind. He wanted to kiss her but a part of him was telling that it would be a mistake. He was paralyzed. He didn't know what to do. He looked accidentally into her eyes and got lost in their gaze. Their lips were only inches apart from each other. Just as they touched a sound came from the door. They both looked at the door and noticed someone closing it. Kai moved quickly but the person got away.

"You should leave now," he said.

"Kai..." Anya started, but was cut of.

"I said leave," Kai repeated with the coldest voice he could get.

Anya walked slowly past him. She closed the door behind her and went to bed. Once she sat down, she let the tears run freely down her cheeks. She was confused. She felt like crying even though she didn't feel hurt. After crying for some time she finally fell asleep.

* * *

Next morning: 

Kira woke up to the smell of breakfast. She dressed quickly and went downstairs. She entered the kitchen and found Anya cooking breakfast.

"I should have known it was you," she stated with a cheerful voice.

She didn't get any answer from Anya, who wasn't even facing her.

"Earth to Anya?" she said, wondering what was going on.

This time she heard a quiet sob. This made her grab Anya's shoulders and turn her around, only to see a tear-streaked face.

"Sweetie, what has happened to you?" she asked compassionately.

"I just talked to..." Anya started but was cut of again.

"Let me guess... Kai?" Kira said.

Anya nodded.

"I swear he is going to be explaining himself to me," Kira hissed.

Just then Kai walked into the kitchen. He saw Anya's face and his angry sister. It didn't take more than a few seconds for him to realize the situation. He looked at Kira again and saw her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Mister Hiwatari..." she started with a mocking tone. "You have some explaining to do."

"About what?" Kai asked.

"Don't play games with me, Hiwatari," Kira continued and walked closer. "You know damn well what I'm talking about."

"Why don't you tell me," Kai snapped. He immediately realized that it was a bad move.

"Say that again," Kira threatened, her voice getting low and icy.

"Why don't you tell me what you are talking about," Kai repeated, crossing the line.

Kira grabbed hold of him and slammed against the wall.

"You are my brother and I love you, but no one treats my friends like that!" she exclaimed. "You understand me? Am I making myself clear?"

Kai was silent. Kira let him out of her grasp and back on the floor.

"What the hell are you too staring at?" she exclaimed at Rei and Max, who had been looking at the scene from the doorway.

"Umm, nothing," they said in unison.

Anya got her cooking ready soon as Rei helped her. They all sat around the table. Veronica appeared soon with Hilary.

"Where's Tyson?" Max pointed out.

"Did anyone wake him up?" Rei asked.

All of them shook their heads. That was when they heard something...

"I'm late, I'm late!" Tyson exclaimed. "Why didn't anyone of you wake me up?"

"Tyson you should be old enough to take care of yourself without one of us always baby-sitting you," Hilary stated.

"Oh, just shut up Hilary!" Tyson shouted.

This made Hilary jump up from her chair and knock it down.

"Watch your mouth Tyson. You have no right saying that since I'm right," Hilary snapped.

Tyson saw Kira giving a glare and decided to sit down and eat.

* * *

After breakfast there was a total chaos in the girls' bathroom. Anya had taken a shower earlier that morning and was drying her hair, Hilary was doing the same. Veronica was braiding her hair. Kira had her problems with her extremely long hair. 

"Kitty, care to help me out a little?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," Veronica replied cheerfully as she finished braiding her hair.

She took the hairbrush from Kira and started to work on the tangles in her hair.

"I'm jealous of your hair," she stated.

"It comes with much trouble," Kira replied. "The only reason why I keep it is because I've gotten too used to it to live without it."

"But still. It's so beautiful," Veronica said. "It's something you don't see every day."

"Guess so," Kira responded.

They were soon ready to leave for school.

It was a usual day at school. Stacy seemed to be more bitchy than usual though. Kira too seemed to be on the edge the whole day. You could see that she wouldn't have wanted anything as badly as to strangle Stacy, though she settled to scaring the hell out of people by glaring at them. She even gave Stacy a death glare, which of course wasn't as scary as Kai's but scary enough to make Stacy hurry out of the cafeteria where she was once again bragging about herself.

Kai walked to the table just when Kira gave her well-practiced death glare.

"You're getting better," he stated and smirked.

"I sure am," Kira replied confidently and smirked back.

Kai directed her a REAL death glare which sent cold shivers down her spine, making her shudder.

"One day I'll learn how to do that," Kira swore.

"Hopefully. You wouldn't be a real Hiwatari if you didn't," Kai teased.

"Screw you," she cursed.

"You too," Kai said, pushing the limit.

This made Kira jump up and leave the table, letting out a long string of curses in Russian as she left the cafeteria.

"Your sister should get anger management classes," Rei stated.

"No, she shouldn't. She can control her anger IF she wants to," Kai replied coldly.

That was when their eyes crossed. Anya found herself looking deep into his eyes. She forgot about the whole world for a split second. Once again Kai broke off the connection. She regained consciousness of the world around her. Hilary and Veronica were looking at her.

"What?" she asked.

"You just sort of tuned out there for a moment," Hilary said and a grin appeared on her face. "Something has happened between you two."

"What are you talking about?" Anya asked, trying to deny it.

"Don't try to lie to me," Hilary replied. "Something happened."

"Okay, okay. Something did happen," Anya admitted. "I'll tell you later."

They finished lunch and headed out of the cafeteria.

* * *

The rest of the day went by much quicker. Anya was once again relieved when the clock hit 2.00 pm, giving them the freedom to leave school for the day. The girls rushed from school. They were eager to hear what had happened between Kai and Anya. They went through the kitchen first, each of them grabbing a can of yogurt and a spoon with them. After that they gathered into Anya's room. 

"So what did exactly happen with you and Kai?" Hilary questioned.

Anya told them all about what happened last night.

"You almost have him," Hilary stated.

"Not quite," Kira pointed out.

"Why not?" Hilary asked.

"I know Kai. It may seem like you have him but it isn't that simple," Kira explained. "You're close though. The right kind of push and he will be yours."

"So what does it take then?" Anya asked. "What is the right kind of push?"

"I have an idea but I will have to talk to someone first," Kira replied.

"What kind of idea?" Hilary questioned. "Who are you going to talk to?"

"Now, now. Patience is a virtue. Just wait and see", Kira said, grinning evilly.


	10. Chapter 10: Red alert

Chapter 10: Red alert

It was 9.50 am on a Saturday morning, 30th of September. Veronica was heading to her singing lessons as usual, but this time she had Anya with her. Ms. Summers had asked them both to come that morning. They entered the classroom.

"Good morning, girls," Ms. Summers greeted them cheerfully.

"Good morning, Miss Summers," they replied in unison.

"Sit down," she said.

They sat down in front of the desk, opposite to the teacher.

"You two are good at singing. The best in your class," she started. "I was hoping you would sing on Valentine's Day for the whole school."

It took a while for Veronica and Anya to get it through their head. They, performing for the whole school?

Ms. Summers smiled at their reaction. "Well?"

"Of course we will!" Anya exclaimed.

"Good. It will take some work but I think you can do it." Ms. Summers stated.

After the lesson, in Kira's room:

"You talked to Miss Summers, didn't you?" Anya accused, smiling widely.

"I might have," Kira replied and smirked.

"You did!" Anya exclaimed and grabbed Veronica into a group hug with Kira.

They fell on Kira's bed, laughing hysterically. Rei walked by the room and stopped to look at the scene.

"What are you looking at!" Kira exclaimed, but you could see she wasn't really angry.

"Mind telling what this is about?" he asked.

"It's a surprise," Anya stated quickly.

Rei shrugged and left.

"Moving to other subjects," Kira said after Rei was gone. "The new number of Code Red is coming out next Monday."

"I can't wait," Anya replied.

"Well, you should be prepared. Those days are never easy," Kira warned. "Stacy isn't going to be happy."

"I bet not, but still, what can she actually do to us?" Anya questioned.

"Practically nothing but you better be careful you don't let it slip who is writing it," Kira adviced.

"That wouldn't be good," Anya agreed.

"Kitty, tell Hilary that she is missing one important rumor. Give her these papers and the photo," Kira said.

"Sure," Veronica replied and left.

"Now then," Kira started. "Does Ms. Summers have a song for you to perform?"

"Yeah, but the one I'm singing isn't all that good," Anya said.

"Well, since the whole purpose of this is to get you and my brother together, the song must be something that makes him think and most importantly feel," Kira explained.

"You have something in mind?" Anya asked.

"But of course," Kira stated and got out the lyrics of a song.

Anya read them quietly. She started smiling.

"This is absolutely fantastic!" Anya exclaimed.

"Thanks," Kira said and smiled.

"Hope Ms. Summers agrees," Anya said.

"I think she will," Kira replied and smirked.

"We'll find out on Monday," Anya stated.

Veronica rushed in to the room.

"Anyone feel like swimming?" she asked. "It's our turn to use the pool you know."

"Are the guys coming?" Kira asked.

"Hilary is asking them," Veronica replied.

Hilary appeared behind Veronica.

"Well?" Kira asked.

"They all said yes. Although Kai needed a little convincing," Hilary stated.

"Let's do it then," Kira agreed.

* * *

They gathered the stuff they needed and walked to the school. There was a separate way in to the part of the school where the pool was. They entered the dressing room and changed their clothes.

Anya was wearing a bright red bikini that didn't leave much for the imagination.

Veronica and Hilary both had swimsuits. Veronica's was powder blue and Hilary's purple.

Kira had something that seemed like a cross-over between a bikini and a swimsuit. It was midnight blue.

They left the dressing room. Anya was surprised by what she saw. There were two pools and a hot tub.

"A hot tub?" Anya asked.

"Yeah, a hot tub. A request from a certain blonde," Kira explained.

"Hey, how about a game of tag, in water of course?" Max suggested.

"Count me in," Kira said.

"Sounds like fun," Hilary replied. "Right Kitty?"

"Yeah," Veronica agreed.

"Fine with me," Anya stated.

"Rei? Kai?" Max asked.

"Sure," Rei responded.

"Whatever," was Kai's usual response.

"You understand of course that it's forbidden to leave the pool," Max stated. "I'll start."

After 5 minutes there was a total chaos in the pool. Anya was trying to catch Kira but wasn't doing very well. She decided to try someone else. The first person to come to her sight was Rei. He smirked at her as he noticed her staring. Then the chase began. At first you could have thought Anya would catch him easily but the gap between them was growing slowly. Suddenly Anya thought of something and dove deep under the water. Unfortunately for her, the red color of her bikini was easy to spot. She was running out of air and she had to come to the surface.

"Hey Anya, what were you doing?" Rei asked, looking like he was trying hard not to laugh.

"Nothing," Anya replied and took advantage of the situation and quickly moved towards Rei, who wasn't ready.

A moment later she got him.

"You're it!" Anya exclaimed.

After that it was Veronica's turn to be chased. She wasn't a very good swimmer but she had an advantage that any of the others didn't have. She could blend in with the water around her, making her extremely hard to see. This didn't help her this time though and she was caught. She went after Kira and Anya who were close to each other. The two of them reacted quickly to it and another chase was ready. Anya looked back at Veronica and suddenly she hit something or, as she quickly noticed, someone. She blushed as she saw who she had hit. It was Kai. Veronica continued after Kira but didn't catch her. It seemed like nobody could do it. Then Veronica decided to try her disappearing. She dove under the water and even Kira couldn't spot her now. Suddenly Veronica appeared behind her.

"You are it!" she screamed out.

"You're right. You got me," Kira stated.

Anya felt a little cold. She told this to Hilary and said that she would go and try out the hot tub. She left the pool and headed for the hot tub. As she got closer she noticed the steam. She could hardly see through it. She sat down in the tub. The water felt so good. She shivered.

"What are you doing here?"

She was startled at the sudden voice.

"I could ask you the same question," she replied.

"You know, I could think you were following me,"

"Oh please, you know I don't do things like that. It's way out of my style, Kai," Anya stated.

"True," he admitted.

"That question makes me think though," Anya said.

"About what?" Kai asked, not sure if he wanted to really know.

"I could think that you asked that question because you were hoping I would say yes and that you would have been the reason I came here," Anya explained.

"You're wrong," Kai denied.

"Am I?" Anya replied. "Why are you blushing then?"

Anya left the tub. She didn't want to push him away with a wrong move.

Kira was just coming to get her and they walked back to the dressing room.

"He blushed?" Kira asked.

"Yeah, not much though." Anya said.

"I can't believe it!" Kira exclaimed. "My brother actually blushed!"

"Well, believe it," Anya stated.

"I think he is starting to warm up on the thought of you," Kira said and smirked.

"Yeah, I think so too," Anya agreed. "He just needs one big push and he is mine."

"Right," Kira replied.

"I hope Ms. Summers thinks that song is good. It would be perfect," Anya stated. "I can't wait until Monday."

"Trust me. She will like it. You just need to relax," Kira said.

"How can I relax? This is about getting the love of my life back," Anya responded in shock.

* * *

Monday morning at school, 9.45 am.

The corridors that were normally quite silent were anything but that today. Some people were laughing while others were deep in conversations. Everywhere they could hear the same thing: Code Red.

"Whoa! I didn't know it would be like this," Anya exclaimed.

"Well, believe it," Kira replied. "This is what it's like every time."

"People really like the stuff in that magazine," Hilary said.

They were talking when a terribly blushing Stacy appeared to the corridor with her friends. Kira giggled.

"Doesn't she look pathetic?" she asked.

"Yeah," Hilary agreed.

The teacher appeared soon after Stacy and opened the door to the classroom. They all went in. Kira had a good time looking at Stacy once in a while. She looked like she was about to lose it. Kira didn't actually help her, just the opposite. She sent smirks to Stacy occasionally, taking advantage of the opportunity to torture her. The bell rang finally, letting them out. They sat down at the cafeteria. Anya had thought that they were clear from Stacy, but she was wrong. Anya was looking out of the window when she heard a loud crash. The next thing she noticed was a broken glass and water around it. Kira was up on her feet and looked very upset as she glared at Stacy, who was leaving the scene.

"She'll pay for that," Kira swore.

Anya and Veronica headed to the library after lunch, since they didn't have classes like the others. They took out their homework and started working on it. Unfortunately they were about to be cut of from their work as Stacy walked in.

"Red alert," Anya muttered. "The bitch is here."

Veronica turned quickly around in her chair. Her eyes widened as she noticed it wasn't just Stacy with her friends, there were two guys with them too.

"We are screwed," she whispered.

"Let's go," Anya said quietly. They took their bags and walked silently between the high bookcases.

"Where do you think you're going?" Stacy asked and smirked.

"That doesn't concern you," Anya snapped.

"True because you aren't going anywhere. Not until I say so," Stacy replied.

Anya and Veronica felt someone take hold of their arms and hold them back.

"Ms. Summers let you have the chance to perform on Valentine's Day," she started. "That chance should have been mine."

"Well, I don't have the power to decide that. It's not my fault she didn't choose you," Anya stated.

"You can say to her that you refuse to do it. Then she will ask me," Stacy replied.

"In your dreams," Anya retorted.

"I suggest you think about it if you value your friend's health and safety," Stacy explained and smirked at Veronica, who looked shocked.

"Fuck you, bitch!" Anya cursed at Stacy.

She felt a hard slap on her face.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that," Stacy snapped. "You've got this week to think about what I said."

She left them and the guys that were holding them followed her.

"What are we going to do?" Veronica asked and looked like she was about to cry.

"We won't give up. We are going to do it," Anya stated.

"We should talk to Kira," Veronica said.

"No," Anya responded. "She will get herself in trouble."

They decided to continue their homework, since they didn't have anything better to do. The clock was 2.45 pm when they gathered their things and went to wait for Kira and Hilary outside their classroom. The bell rang and the door of the classroom opened a few moments after it. Kira came out first, followed by Hilary. They started walking to the classroom where they were supposed to have their next class. Kira noticed something was bothering Veronica.

"Hey Kitty, is something wrong?" she asked.

"Umm..." Veronica started but she noticed the look Anya was giving her. "Nothing."

"Yeah and Stacy is my best friend," Kira replied. "Now, tell."

"Really, it's nothing," Veronica tried again.

"Sure it isn't," Kira said, dropping the subject. You could still see that she didn't believe.

Anya was worried about the English class. What if Stacy did something that would make Kira notice that something is going on? It turned out that Stacy wasn't that stupid. The only thing that connected Kira and Stacy was the same smirking and glaring as in the morning. Anya felt relieved when the clock hit 3.00 pm and the bell rang. Anya and Veronica used the time before their singing lesson to do the rest of their homework.

At 4.30 pm, in the classroom...

"Miss Summers, I need to ask you something," Anya said.

"What is it, my dear?" Ms. Summers replied.

"Could we change my song? I think I have a better one," Anya asked.

"What song do you have in mind?" Ms. Summers questioned.

Anya gave her the lyrics. There was a silence as Ms. Summers read them.

"This is brilliant, my dear. Just the kind of thing we need," Ms. Summers stated.

A wide smile appeared on Anya's lips, lighting up her face.

"Thank you so much," Anya said. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"But I do, my dear. You are trying to charm a certain young man," she replied and smiled.


	11. Chapter 11: Trouble in sight

Chapter 11: Trouble in sight

It was Monday again. A week after Anya and Veronica ran into Stacy and she said her threat. The two of them walked closely to Kira as they entered the school building. They were determined not to let Stacy boss them around with her threats. As they walked into the corridor where Stacy was they started their practiced act of avoidence. They were as she was only air and didn't notice her. Anya glanced carefully at Stacy and saw the irritation on her face immediately.

Luckily the bell rang and they went into the class. Stacy made a few pathetic attempts to glare at them. At the end of the class Ms. Montana gave her detention for not paying attention in class and for disturbing her classmates. Stacy looked like she was ready to murder the teacher. Soon she was tempted to murder Kira too as she smirked annoyingly at her bad luck.

Stacy was left behind to decide the time of her detention as the others went ahead. When she appeared to the corridor where Anya, Veronica, Kira and Hilary were you could see her shaking from head to toe.

"What ever happened to her?" Anya asked.

"She experienced what Miss Montana can be like when she gets nasty," Kira stated.

"What does that exactly mean?" Anya questioned, although she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"Let's just say that when you start messing with her the rumors that she eats students for breakfast look much more then just rumors after that," Kira explained.

"Let me guess. You had to try her patience?" Anya assumed.

"It was a chance I couldn't resist. I made an article of her. Somehow the magazine got to her hands. Luckily she doesn't have proof that it was me who wrote it," Kira said.

The bell rang again and their French teacher came around the corner and let them into the classroom. Veronica was absent-minded through the whole time until the teacher noticed it...

"Miss Meridian," he started. "Would you care to tell me the answer to the next question?"

Veronica snapped out of her thoughts. The whole class was staring at her. She blushed before she gave her answer. One of Stacy's friends giggled.

"It's not your turn to speak Miss Kingston so I ask you to be quiet," the teacher said sharply. "Your answer was right Miss Meridian."

Kira's thoughts swirled in her head. 'Kitty isn't paying attention in the French class. What's going on? This is not like her. French is her favorite subject.'

Kira thought hard what could be bothering her but couldn't think of anything. The bell rang and brought her back to reality. They walked to the cafeteria and went into two tables, the girls to one table and the boys to the other. As they sat down Kira noticed that something was wrong with Anya too. She seemed absent-minded too. 'What is wrong with the two of them? It must be the same thing.'

Kira and Hilary left the table to go to their psychology class when they were done eating. Anya looked nervously at Veronica.

"You think she would do something now?" she asked.

"I don't think so. Not in here at least. There too many people and teachers in here," Veronica replied.

"You're right," Anya said.

There was a moment of silence.

"Anya..." Veronica said suddenly.

"What?" Anya asked.

"I'm scared. What if something happens?" Veronica continued.

"Like what?" Anya questioned.

"You know I love to dance. It's my life," Veronica responded.

"Yeah..." Anya said, wondering where this was going to.

"I see everywhere stuff about dancers who used to be good but couldn't dance anymore because they were in an accident. What if that happens to me?" Veronica asked as tears appeared in her eyes.

"Oh, come here," Anya said soothingly and grabbed Veronica into a tight hug.

"We will get through this. I promise," Anya continued.

Stacy walked by the table just then and glared or at least tried to glare at them.

"What are we going to do?" Veronica asked after Stacy was gone.

"She can't hurt us if we stay around the teachers," Anya answered.

"So that's the answer. We hang around teachers?" Veronica replied.

"Yeah, that would be it," Anya stated. "At least I can't think of anything better."

The two of them noticed a teacher leaving the cafeteria and rushed out the same time.  
They were a little surprised since they didn't spot Stacy anywhere.

"You think she is planning something?" Anya questioned.

"Maybe. She is up to something surely," Veronica replied, her voice trembling.

"You think it would be safe to go to the library?" Anya asked.

"It's a risk," Veronica responded.

"You remember when we agreed that we wouldn't let her control us? That's just what we would be doing if we let her affect this decision," Anya said.

"You're right," Veronica agreed.

* * *

So they went to the library. They were even more surprised when Stacy didn't appear there. 

"This is definitely not like her," Veronica stated.

"You think she got cold feet?" Anya suggested.

"I doubt it," Veronica replied.

They left the library for the English class. Again Kira wondered why the two were so quiet. Finally she asked them about it...

"It's nothing, Kira. Really, no need for you to worry." Anya answered.

Rei listened carefully to the conversation. Like Kira, he too could tell that they weren't telling everything.

The English class went well. Stacy didn't bother to try to annoy them. After a long hour the relieving sound of the bell finally came and they were let out.

Anya and Veronica were leaving when Veronica noticed that her diskette was missing. She rushed back for it. At the same time Kira and Hilary caught up with Anya and dragged her with them to see something. Veronica reached the door to the classroom but it was already closed, so she knocked but didn't get any answer. She continued the corridor to find their English teacher.

Suddenly she stopped. Stacy had appeared in front of her and she was holding something...

Veronica's diskette.

* * *

"You..." Veronica snarled as she recovered from the shock. 

"Listen to that tone," Stacy said to her friends as she shook her head.

"What about it?" Veronica asked, her voice getting a little icy.

"How can you call yourself an aristocrat?" Stacy asked.

"I should be asking you that question," Veronica replied calmly.

This made Stacy furious. 'How could she be so calm?'

She pushed Veronica violently against the wall. Veronica's head hit the wall hard.

"I'm not afraid of you," she stated, her voice barely hearable under Stacy's grip.

"You should be. My family has a lot of power," Stacy responded.

"Not as much as the Hiwatari's," Veronica replied.

"Ah, your dear friend Kira and her brother Kai," Stacy retorded. "Kira will soon be out of my way and after that Kai will be mine."

"Like Kai would ever fall for a cheap slut like you," Veronica snarled.

Stacy slammed Veronica harder against the wall. Veronica collapsed to the floor as she let go of her. After that she received many hard kicks to her stomach. She started to cry out in pain and tears fell down her cheeks. She spat blood out of her mouth.

"Look at yourself," Stacy mocked. "Look how pathetic you are."

Veronica was hurting too much to reply to her. She was picked up from the floor and held against the wall again.

"Answer me when I'm talking to you, bitch!" Stacy shouted at her.

All Veronica could do was cry more as she got a series of slaps on the face. Finally everything went black as she was slammed to the wall once more. A trail of blood came from her head and made a small puddle on the floor where Stacy and her friends left her.

Rei was walking down the stairs at the school. When Veronica didn't appear after Anya he got worried. The two were the whole day together and both of them were acting strangely and then there was the conversation that Rei heard. He felt something was wrong. He wondered the corridors in the school. Suddenly he noticed a figure lying on the floor. He rushed over and gasped as he saw who it was...

Veronica!

He called an ambulance immediately and after that he checked her pulse and if she was breathing. Veronica was soon on her way to the hospital. Rei rushed to tell everyone else what had happened to her. After that they all left for the hospital. They waited a long time before the doctor who was treating her let them in to see her. She was in horrible shape. Her face was bruised and she had a black eye and a cut in her bottom lip, which was starting to swell. What they didn't see were the bruises in her stomach. Some of them were quite big. She also had a twisted ankle. They waited long for Veronica to wake up but time passed more and more without any reaction from her.

* * *

Kira threw the boys out of the room when the clock hit 8.30 pm, saying that it was time for them to go to bed and get some sleep. 

After that Anya got the third degree from Kira about the whole thing and she had no choice but to tell.

"That bitch!" Kira exclaimed in fury.

"Kira please don't take revenge on her," Anya pleaded.

"Why not! Look what she did to poor Kitty!" Kira responded.

"You will get in trouble. I know you will," Anya said, wanting to cry.

Kira stormed out of the room.

Anya gave in and let the tears fall. Hilary grabbed her into a hug.

"Shh... it's alright," she said soothingly.

"No, it's not," Anya mumbled through her sobs.

"Okay, okay. Tell you what, I'm going to go and talk to Kira. Okay?" Hilary said.

Anya nodded and Hilary left the room to find Kira.

Anya leaned closer to Veronica. She looked at her face. It was completely ruined. She just looked at her, feeling guiltier every minute.

"This is my fault. I promised you we would get through this," Anya whispered.

Anya closed her eyes. There was a silence. Then...

"It's not your fault."

Anya opened her eyes and stared at the doorway, it was empty. After that she directed her gaze to the bed. Veronica had her eyes open.

"I'm so glad you're finally awake," Anya said and hugged her friend.

"Ouch!" Veronica exclaimed in pain.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Anya winced.

"It's alright," Veronica said and smiled weakly.

"No. This shouldn't have happened," Anya said.

"I don't blame you and you shouldn't blame yourself either," Veronica replied understandingly.

"You don't think this is my fault?" Anya asked.

"No. I took knowingly that when I went back for that diskette without you. You're not responsible," Veronica explained.

"You're right. I'm still so sorry for you. You are the sweetest person I have known in my entire life. You don't deserve this," Anya stated.

"That's so sweet of you. There other things that you must concentrate on now," Veronica replied. "I assume that Kira is furious about this thing."

"Yeah, Hilary went to talk some sense into her, but you know Kira..." Anya said.

"I do. That's why you must stop her. Stacy is just waiting for her to come after her," Veronica explained.

"How? I haven't tried to stop her before," Anya responded.

"We'll have to think of something before it's too late," Veronica stated. "But you should go now. You have to get some sleep."

"No, you're my friend and I want to be here by your side," Anya argued.

"I will call the nurse to throw you out if that is the only way I'm going to get you to go," Veronica threatened. "You need some sleep young lady."

"Yes... mother," Anya said jokingly and smirked.

Veronica smiled back.

* * *

Next afternoon the girls were gathered again around Veronica, doing homework. 

Veronica had trouble focusing on her work because of the pain in her stomach and ankle. They were all very sorry for her. Kira even had made an exception to her rules. She usually didn't help anyone with their homework but this time she decided to make an exception.

The girls left Veronica as the doctor came in to check up on her and said that she needed to rest. Soon after the doctor left Veronica fell asleep. She felt disappointed when she woke up later in the evening and found the room empty. There was an awkward silence in the room. Just then Rei walked in.

"Hi. I see you're awake," he greeted cheerfully.

"Yeah. I hope you aren't leaving soon. It's so boring here," Veronica replied.

"No. How are you feeling?" he asked politely.

"Better than yesterday," Veronica replied and forced a smile on her face. "I hear it was you who found me on the floor. Thank you."

"No need to thank me," Rei said and blushed slightly.

"What are you standing there? Come and sit down," Veronica said and pointed to the chair next to the bed.

Rei moved closer when he suddenly tripped on one of the other chairs. A moment later Veronica let out a scream. Rei had managed to hit her sore ankle when he tripped.

"I'm so sorry," Rei apologized.

"I wish people would quiet telling me how sorry they are. I don't want your pity," Veronica stated.

Rei looked hurt.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I'm really hurting and they won't give me anything for the pain," Veronica explained.

"I understand. Can I try something on your ankle?" Rei asked.

"Sure. I don't think the pain can get any worse then this," Veronica agreed.

Rei sat down on the chair that was at the end of Veronica's bed. He grabbed her foot into a firm grip and started slowly moving his other hand on her ankle. At first Veronica felt jolts of pain go through her leg, suddenly it stopped. The pain was gone from her ankle.

"How did you do that? It doesn't hurt anymore," Veronica said.

"It's about increasing the flow of blood to your ankle. When more blood goes through your ankle it brings more oxygen, which relieves the pain," Rei explained as he moved closer to Veronica.

"Interesting," Veronica said and smiled.

That was when they caught each other's gaze. Veronica looked deep into Rei's eyes. They were filled with caring. She started feeling a little feverish. She wanted to turn away but something kept her from doing it. Instead she found herself getting closer to him.

'What am I doing!' she screamed in her head.

Soon she couldn't hear the screaming anymore as her lips touched Rei's. It was a shy kiss. She could see confusion in Rei's eyes as they parted. She knew her eyes looked the same. She felt a blush cover her cheeks. Rei stood up to leave, but Veronica grabbed his sleeve.

"Don't go," she whispered softly.

Rei turned around to face her.

"You want me to stay?" Rei asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Veronica replied firmly.


	12. Chapter 12: Addicted to you

Chapter 12: Addicted to you

It was Saturday. The next week would be the last week of November. Veronica was let out of hospital on Friday evening. She still had bruises and her ankle wasn't completely alright. They were all very happy to have her back though. It was official at the school that Veronica Meridian and Rei Kon were a couple. Of course they got the usual teasing about it. Right now Veronica was sitting on her bed and having a girl talk with Kira, Anya and Hilary.

"So what was it like, your first kiss?" Kira questioned, the others sweatdropped.

Veronica blushed. "I think I'll pass that question..."

"What's the thing between you two now?" Hilary asked.

"Well... he has told me he loves me and I've told him the same," Veronica said.

"Aww, how sweet," Anya responded.

Veronica blushed again. "I hope you and Kai get together too, soon."

"Yeah, I hope so too," Anya sighed. "I miss him, even though I see him every day."

"Hey Anya. Have you done anything to get closer to Kai?" Hilary asked.

"No, I've had other things to worry about lately..." Anya replied.

"Oh, what are you planning to do?" Kira questioned.

"I'm not sure yet. I'll see if I get any good chances," Anya said and smiled.

"Umm, as much as I like you I have things to do now that I'm finally out of the hospital," Veronica said suddenly.

"Doesn't need a genius to know what you're planning," Kira said and smirked.

Veronica blushed. 'Am I really that obvious?'

"Come on. Let's not bother her anymore. Her thoughts are obviously on something else," Anya stated.

They left the room and it was only 20 minutes later that the door opened and someone came into Veronica's room. She heard it but didn't turn around. She could guess who it was and smiled to herself. She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. Her head was being turned around. She closed her eyes and felt soon a pair of lips on her own. She let the powerful feeling flow right through her and overwhelm her. She had never felt anything as wonderful as this. She was addicted to it, had been since the very first time. They parted from the kiss.

"And you say that you're shy..." Rei said.

"Not when it comes us," Veronica replied and gave Rei a smile.

It wasn't just any kind of smile, he was the only one that she smiled to like that.

"So you are a wild cat?" Rei assumed.

"A vigorous Kitty. You bring that side of me out," Veronica replied.

"I think I liked the shy side of you much better," Rei stated jokingly.

Veronica stuck out her tongue at him.

"You should show this side of you more often," Rei commented.

"If I have the confidence to show it to other people someday," Veronica responded.

"Who said anything about other people?" Rei replied and smirked.

"Well, we aren't exactly alone very often..." Veronica pointed out.

"So? We should have more of that so called 'we-time'," Rei stated.

"Maybe..." Veronica said and smiled teasingly as she stood up to get a diskette.

"Why maybe?" Rei asked.

"School and my advice column take a lot of time," she replied as she came back.

She was walking past him when a pair of arms went across her waist and pulled her backwards. She let out a small yelp as she lost her balance and fell on to Rei's lap.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she blushed at her thoughts and the situation.

"Spending some quality-time with my girlfriend," Rei answered and smirked.

"Umm... I have things to do." Veronica said, trying to get up. She was trying to hide her blushing.

"Can't they wait?" Rei asked, holding her firmly.

"You think we could do something more fun?" Veronica replied with a question.

"That depends what you consider to be fun..." Rei stated.

"Try me," Veronica urged and turned around to look at him.

Rei leaned in for a kiss. Veronica responded to it passionately. He was so good she almost wanted to eat him alive. She didn't want to let go, she was afraid if she did he would be gone when she opened her eyes. Nevertheless, eventually the kiss ended.

"You're very dangerous, you know," Rei stated.

"What do you mean by that?" Veronica asked.

"You're such a sweet little thing. I'm getting addicted to you," Rei said.

They both blushed, Veronica a little more then Rei.

"Well, you're not the only one getting addicted," Veronica retorted and smiled.

It was Rei's turn to blush furiously.

"You said we would do something fun. What did you have in mind?" Veronica asked.

"And this wasn't fun?" Rei responded.

"It was but surely we can't keep doing this all the time..." Veronica replied.

"Well, I actually did have something in mind," Rei said, smiling mischievously.

"What?" Veronica asked eagerly.

"Something concerning the pool," Rei whispered to her.

"Let's go," Veronica answered.

* * *

Veronica and Rei were sneaked out of the house. They didn't want the others to know where they went.

They had the urge to go to the same dressing room but decided to obey the rules and went separate ways. Veronica came out of the dressing room. The poolroom was dimly lit with only one light. Veronica automatically headed towards the source of the light. She came to the hot tub and found Rei in it, his eyes closed.

She walked without a sound to him. She looked at him. 'He is so cute.' She couldn't resist the temptation. She planted a kiss on his lips. His eyes snapped open but closed again as he started responding to the kiss. Soon Veronica pulled away.

"I recall you talking about the pool..." she said as she sat next to Rei into the hot tub.

"Well...umm..." Rei stammered.

Veronica put a finger on his lips. "I understand," she stated and gave him a special smile.

She cuddled against him. It just felt so good. Rei put an arm around her shoulders.

They leaned against each other. It didn't take them long before they were lost in each other again. Veronica moaned from pleasure as Rei first kissed her on the lips deeply and passionately and continued down her neck, sending shivers up and down her spine.

A giggle escaped her lips. Rei looked her into the eyes, trying to read them. She looked away to hide her smile and the shameful thoughts in her mind.

"Where did that come from?" Rei asked, meaning her giggle.

"Nowhere," Veronica said, smiling innocently.

"I'm not buying that," Rei said.

"I mean it," Veronica tried again.

"You're a bad liar," Rei stated. "Either you tell me or else..."

"Or else what?" Veronica replied.

"You asked for it," Rei responded and quickly lifted Veronica up in his arms.

"What are you doing!" Veronica squealed in surprise.

"The 'or else'," Rei replied shortly.

Veronica noticed she was being carried to the pool. It suddenly hit her what was about to happen. She started to panic right away. Soon she was out of Rei's arms, flying through the air. After that there was a splash in the pool as Veronica landed in it. Another splash followed the first one when Rei went in after Veronica. There was something he had forgotten though. Veronica was good at disappearing under water. It came to him as he couldn't spot her anywhere.

Veronica was right under him. She wanted to laugh.

'He asked for it!' she thought as she closed up on him.

She came to the surface right behind him, putting her arms around him. Next they were both under water again. Veronica circled in front of him and stole a kiss before heading up. Rei surfaced soon after her, gasping for air.

"What did you think of my under water kiss?" Veronica asked and smiled.

"Hmm... it was a little lame," Rei joked.

"Why you..." Veronica started.

Rei got a splash of the water in his face. Veronica smiled teasingly at him.

Soon the once so serene surface of the pool was anything else but that as Rei and Veronica splashed furiously water at each other and laughed hysterically at the same time like 5-year-olds.

Rei was winning before Veronica decided to try a new approach to the situation. She started diving and splashing water whenever she came to the surface. This hardly gave Rei a chance. Soon they decided to stop and agreed that it was a tie.

* * *

They dressed up and met outside. To their surprise it had been snowing while they were swimming. The ground was covered in snow. Veronica and Rei were holding hands while walking.

Unexpectedly a snowball hit Veronica in her back. She and Rei turned around. Rei got a snowball in his face. They looked around but couldn't see anyone. It was quiet but then they heard a sound of giggling. Looking at the direction of the sound they couldn't see anyone.

Suddenly a laughing Hilary fell down from the tree in front of them. Even after hitting the ground she couldn't stop laughing.

"Come down Kira," Rei called out. "I know you're in that tree."

Kira dropped smoothly down from the tree.

"Hilary!" she exclaimed in frustration.

"I'm sorry," Hilary apologized between her giggles. "It was just so hilarious."

"I can see that," Kira responded icily. "You missed your target. You weren't supposed to hit her in the back."

"Where was she supposed to hit Kitty?" Rei asked.

"That's classified information," Kira replied. "Let's go Hils. We have stuff to do."

"Yeah," Hilary answered, getting control over her laughter finally.

"Excuse me. Where do you think you're going? You owe us an apology," Rei said.

Kira and Hilary looked back at the couple. Rei and Veronica were holding snowballs.

"Run," Kira said shortly and disappeared from the scene.

Hilary followed her but unfortunately she wasn't nearly as fast as Kira.

Kira had soon shook them of her tail. Poor Hilary wasn't able to do that though. She got hit twice by the snowballs and got a whole pile of snow dropped on her. After that Veronica came to her and apologized for the whole thing.

"Aww, it's not your fault. Me and Kira started it." Hilary replied and went inside to dry out her clothes.

"Care to go for a walk?" Veronica asked. "There's something I need to talk to you about."

"Sure," Rei replied.

* * *

They were walking outside the city. Snow was falling from the sky, making the scene look enchanted.

"It's so beautiful," Veronica said and sighed.

"Yeah," Rei agreed.

He could sense something was really bothering her.

There was a silence. Rei put his right arm around her shoulders, while holding her hand with his left hand.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked.

Veronica was searching for the right words to say what she wanted to say.

"You can tell me anything. You know that, don't you?" Rei said.

"Of course, it's just that I don't know how to say this," Veronica responded quickly.

"Well, what is it about?" Rei asked.

"It's about Kira. You know that the month is almost over and the new Code Red will come out soon. Kira is going to pull one of her pranks on Stacy again," Veronica started.

"Yeah, what about it?" Rei asked.

"Kira is a nice person. I'm not trying to say anything else. She has helped me many times and other people too. It's just that when you get her upset by doing something wrong she usually wants revenge. She can usually control her anger so nothing serious happens but this time I think things are different," Veronica explained.

"You think she might do something to Stacy?" Rei responded.

"I know she will do something. I'm afraid that this time she might go over the edge. Stacy has never actually hurt me before like this. Sure she has talked things about me and other stuff but never hurt me. You know how Kira is. She can't stand people who hurt others like that. She wants to do the right thing but I'm afraid she is going to go too far this time," Veronica continued.

"I understand," Rei said. "But I don't know what we can do about it."

"You're right. Kira has usually had it her way in the end," Veronica replied. "I'm just so worried about her. What if she gets caught?"

Rei didn't know what to say.

The thought of Kira getting caught on one of her pranks was horrible. She would be kicked out of the school for sure and Stacy would sue her for the things she had done to her.

And what about when Kira would be pushed against the wall? There was no telling what she would do. The consequences would be huge.

"We have to stop her," Rei said finally.

Rei and Veronica walked back, both of them thinking ways to stop her. In the end they came to the conclusion that it wasn't possible.

When they got to the house they dragged Anya and Kai away from the others to help find a solution to the situation. Anya noticed how cold Kai was being towards her. What had happened? Anya felt so lost. What was she supposed to do?

'I need you Kai. I'm addicted to you,' she thought.


	13. Chapter 13: Revenge for life

Chapter 13: Revenge for life

Anya pondered what Kira was up to. It was another Friday. Next Monday would be the day that the next number of Code Red came out to the public. It meant that this would be the day Kira would take action with what ever she had planned for Stacy.

They were sitting at the cafeteria. She was in the same table with Veronica, Rei and Kai. Kira was in the other table with Hilary, Max and Tyson. Veronica was sitting opposite to her as Kai and Rei were on each side of her.

Kai had been treating her coldly and she was losing the hope of ever getting him back. Although every once in a while when she looked into his eyes she saw the same longing that she was feeling.

'Why doesn't he come back then? He must be afraid I'm going to hurt him. I would never do that. How will I get him to see that? I'll have to find a way.'

Anya snapped to reality as Rei poked her in the arm.

"Coming?" he asked.

"Yeah," Anya replied and got up to leave with the others.

She saw that Kira and Hilary were having an intense conversation about something as they left the cafeteria too. Was Hilary helping Kira or was she trying to convince her not to do anything? Anya walked over to them.

"Hi Anya!" Kira greeted cheerfully.

"What were you talking about?" Anya asked suspiciously.

"Just about the fact that Code Red is coming out on next Monday," Kira whispered.

"I hope you aren't doing anything I wouldn't do," Anya said.

"What do you mean by that?" Kira responded, avoiding the subject.

"Remember that you getting back at Stacy is just what she wants. You'll be expelled from school if you're caught and who knows what else will happen," Anya stated.

Kira stopped smiling. "Just stay out of my way. I can take care of myself," she replied icily and walked away.

"She will do it," Hilary said.

"I hope not. If she goes too far something will happen even if she doesn't get caught," Anya responded.

"What?" Hilary asked in confusion.

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Anya answered and headed back to Veronica.

Anya knew Kira too well. She knew there was no stopping her anymore. They had tried to talk sense into her but without any success. She had even gone as far as to lecture Kira. This had only made Kira unwilling to talk to her so much.

'What is happening?' she wondered in her mind.

Anya couldn't concentrate on anything. Her head was filled with worry.

'Where was the Kira she once knew? The cheerful girl who joked and made people laugh?'

She didn't know.

'It must have something to do with her past.'

* * *

During the next break it happened. A loud scream went through the whole school, followed by other screams. Kira came to the corridor and you could see she was hiding a smile.

"What did you do?" Anya asked accusingly.

"Gave the bitch what she deserved," Kira stated.

Anya rushed the way Kira came from. A crowd had formed outside the girls' bathroom. Anya tried to see what was going on but couldn't.

"Call an ambulance!" someone yelled.

Anya went back to Kira.

"Kira, what the hell did you do!" she snarled.

"You'll find out next Monday," Kira told her coldly.

Anya couldn't believe her ears. How could Kira treat her like this? Wasn't she her friend?

She turned around and headed to the girls' bathroom again. She got there just in time to see Stacy all covered in red spots and complaining about the pain.

'What happened to her?' Anya wondered. Then something came to her mind...

The bell rang and the students went into the classrooms. Anya had troubles concentrating.

'How could Kira do something like that? To hurt other people?'

She felt like she had never even known her, that she was a stranger.  
Sure Kira had a temperament but that she would go this far... Anya felt like a part of her was missing. Kira was her best friend.

* * *

Anya jumped up from her seat as soon as the bell rang. She rushed out of the school without telling anyone where she was going. After some time she arrived to her destination. The hospital.

She went in and asked the receptionist where she could find Stacy Springfield. She continued her way to Stacy's room. She listened before she went in. She didn't hear anything so she assumed Stacy was alone and she went in.

She looked at Stacy's motionless figure on the bed. She looked awful with the red spots covering her skin everywhere that it was visible. Stacy opened her eyes suddenly.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped.

"What happened?" Anya asked, returning the question.

"Your sick-minded friend did this!" Stacy snarled. "There were bees in the girls' bathroom. I'm allergic to bee-stings, I could have been killed."

"Veronica could have been killed too," Anya retorted. "Besides, what makes you think it was one of my friends?"

"Oh please! What do you think I am? Stupid or something? Just because I'm blonde doesn't mean I'm stupid," Stacy snapped back. "It's obvious."

Anya swallowed her anger. Stacy may have deserved what she got but it still wasn't right for Kira to do something like that. Stacy could have been killed! That would have made Kira a murderer.

"I hope you aren't in too much pain, although I think this might give you a chance to think what you did to my friend Veronica," Anya said and left.

* * *

She had to talk to Kira. This time she went too far. Anya was trying to figure out what to say to Kira as she walked into the house. She found Kira coming down the stairs.

"We need to talk," Anya said seriously.

"Fine," Kira replied, sensing what was about to come.

They walked into Anya's room and Anya shut the door.

"This is about Stacy, isn't it?" Kira said.

"Kira, you went too far. You have no right hurting other people like that." Anya lectured.

"Well excuse me!" Kira responded, her temper rising. "It was Miss Springfield who hurt Kitty. Do you think that's right?"

"No!" Anya exclaimed. "Nobody should hurt other people, except in self-defense."

"So I should just let her get away with it?" Kira asked sarcastically.

"You should have told the teachers or the police," Anya said calmly.

"Like that would have helped," Kira stated. "Stacy's family has bribed the police and most of the teachers."

"Still, it was wrong for you to do something like that to Stacy," Anya argued. "Did you know that Stacy was allergic to bee-stings?"

"What about it?" Kira responded.

"She could have been killed Kira!" Anya shouted at her friend.

"The world would be a much better place without her," Kira snarled.

"You wish she was dead?" Anya asked, not believing her ears.

"Yes," Kira said, her voice and eyes as cold ice.

"Why?" Anya whispered.

"Back at the abbey, when they were training me to be a spy, I had to watch other people get tortured – mentally and physically. After that I was forced to torture them myself. I didn't want to do it, but they said that if was to become a good spy I had to learn how to get the information out of people, even if it meant torturing it out of them," Kira explained as a tear fell down her cheek.

Kira took a deep breathe before she continued.

"When I escaped the abbey, I made a promise to myself, the people that I once was forced to hurt and all the people that were being hurt at the time. I promised that I would protect the weaker ones wherever I would go, to make up the hurt I did. I wanted and still want justice for those people. They didn't deserve it," Kira stated.

"But if you are against hurting other people then why did you hurt Stacy?" Anya questioned.

"Stacy hurt Kitty. She will hurt her again if nobody stops her," Kira explained.

"How can you be so sure?" Anya asked.

"She has hurt a person that I care about very deeply. She has tried to hurt him again, but I've stopped her," Kira said.

"Who?" Anya asked, getting confused.

"That's none of your business," Kira snapped.

"Fine," Anya snarled. "But you do realize that what you did was wrong..."

"Whatever," Kira replied.

"Don't you start that, not with me!" Anya shouted angrily.

"I'll do it to anyone I like, even you," Kira snarled and did something that nobody would have thought she would or could do...

She made a REAL death glare at Anya and stormed out of the room.

Anya stood still, looking at the door that had just slammed shut.

She felt so bad, so lost. She wanted to cry. She walked to her bed and fell on it, after that she let her tears soak the pillow. She had lost her life-long friend. What was she going to do now? How was she going to become friends again with her?

Would she ever be able to get Kai back without her help? She had lost the two most important persons in her life. Was there any point living after that? Did she have any reason to live? Her heart was aching. She wished the pain would go away, but it didn't.

* * *

Kira was in her room, the door locked. She wanted to be alone.

Nobody was supposed to see her cry, not even her closest friends.

What was wrong with her? Crying was for the weak, she wasn't weak.

Memories from the abbey flowed to her mind and filled it...

**Flashback**

"I don't wanna do it! He hasn't done anything wrong!" a 10-year-old Kira yelled.

"You will do it if you don't want it done to you," a male voice said calmly.

"No! I won't do it!" Kira yelled back.

"Fine then. Put her in chains," the man ordered.

Kira was chained to the wall.

"You will be chained here, knowing that you will be punished after someone has taken care of the job you didn't do," the man told her.

Kira didn't answer the man.

She moved her eyes to the small boy lying on the floor in front of her. She watched as the whip hit him. After a while she couldn't look anymore but the screams echoed in her head.

She opened her eyes as the screams stopped and saw the lifeless boy being carried out of the room, his brown curls moving in the air with his head.

Kira's face was soaked in tears as the whip slashed to her back and made her cry out in pain.

**End of flashback**

Kira reached her hand to her back. She would never forget it, never. She couldn't. That boy reminded Kira of a special person.

'There's too much at risk. I have to find a way to stop Stacy before it's too late. It's not just about Kitty anymore. Stacy will pay for what she has done, not just to Kitty but to the two of them – Shadow and...'


	14. Chapter 14: Tempest of temperaments

Chapter 14: Tempest of temperaments

Kai woke up. He glanced at the clock, it was 6.10 am. He got up and dressed himself. He couldn't sleep anymore so what was the point in lying in bed.

He walked down the stairs and was heading to the living room when a sound caught his attention.

Instead of going to the living room, he turned to the kitchen. He walked in and saw Kira with her back turned to the doorway. Kai looked at his sister. Was she...

sobbing?

Kai couldn't believe his eyes. This was Kira, she didn't sob, not to mention cry. Kai cleared his throat, making his presence known.

Kira jumped at the sudden sound and turned around to face him. Kai saw she had been crying.

"Don't say it!" Kira snapped. "I know."

"Know what?" Kai replied.

"I look terrible and you want to know why," she stated. A tear made its way down her cheek. "What are you looking at! Not ever seen a girl cry?"

Kai could see she was fighting, not to let the tears fall.

"Not you," he responded shortly. "Crying is for weak, I thought you weren't."

Anger and humiliation reflected from Kira's eyes as she sent her brother an exact copy of his death glare. This made him startle a little. He didn't expect it.

"I see you have learned something," Kai said with a sarcastic tone, pushing the limits on purpose.

Kira leaped quickly close to him and let out a string of curses in Russian, straight to his face. Kai waited calmly for her to calm down.

"Kira, you need grab a hold of yourself," he stated calmly.

"Look who's talking," she snorted.

"Think about what people will think if they knew," he continued.

"So what?" she answered.

"Your reputation, that you have worked so hard for, would go down the drain," he explained.

This made more tears come down Kira's cheeks. The dams were about to be broken.

"I can't help it," Kira said, sounding pathetic.

Suddenly Kai slapped Kira hard across the face. Kira looked at him – stunned.

"Kira what ever it is you're hurting for isn't worth that. Now pull yourself together and go clean up your face," Kai said harshly.

Kira walked away to the bathroom. Kai headed for the living room.

He turned on the Gamecube and sat down on the couch. The menu-screen of a game came to view. He hesitated as Kira walked into the room.

"Wanna play?" he asked and smirked.

"Sure," Kira said and a smile came to her face.

After a few minutes of playing Kira spoke...

"Thanks," she muttered quickly and quietly.

"For what?" Kai asked.

"For bringing me back to my senses," Kira replied. "Even though you had to slap me to do it."

"Hey, don't forget that you are a Hiwatari and what people think of you affects me too," Kai stated.

* * *

It was 7.45 am when Rei and Anya came downstairs, talking about something. It looked like they were really into the conversation.

Kai glanced at them and felt a jolt of jealousy. Rei had his arm around her shoulders. He noticed there was something weird about Anya. Then it came to him.

She had been crying. It was obvious. He remembered hearing an argument yesterday. Did Anya and Kira fight? But what for? They are best friends. He was tempted to ask Kira, but decided not to. She wouldn't tell him or anyone else for that matter.

After an hour or so a smell of breakfast came from the kitchen. They gathered around the table. Veronica and Hilary appeared, chatting cheerfully. Soon Max appeared too.

"I can't get Tyson to wake up," he stated.

"Just let him sleep," Rei suggested.

"But shouldn't we..." Max started but was cut of.

"I'll wake him up. I know how to do it," Kira exclaimed in frustration and shot up from her chair, leaving the room.

They followed her quickly. Kira came out of the bathroom with a bucket that was filled with water.

"Kira, you wouldn't be that evil?" Max asked.

"Try me," Kira replied and went to Tyson's bed.

He was snoring loudly. Kira looked at him with disgust written on her face. Next she splashed the water from the bucket on the unsuspecting sleeper. Tyson shot up immediately.

"Cold water of course. Freezing," Kira stated and smirked at Tyson.

"You," was all Tyson could say.

"Yes, me," Kira replied with a dangerous voice.

That was when a wild chase began. Needless to say that Tyson didn't have a chance on catching Kira. Kira laughed while she ran. The others caught up with them in the living room.

Tyson had Kira cornered, or at least he thought so. Kira opened a big window in the corner and jumped out. Unfortunately, Tyson caught her in mid-air. Her hand grabbed a branch from the tree, while Tyson was holding her from the wrist of the other hand.

Kira's hold on the tree was slipping. She knew Tyson couldn't support her weight, even though she wasn't fat.

"Let go," she ordered.

"No way!" replied a soaked Tyson.

"You are going to get us killed!" Kira shouted.

"I'm not going to let you get away!" Tyson shouted back.

"Fool, idiot, moron, stupid!" Kira exclaimed in fury.

"Don't call me names!" Tyson argued.

"I'll do what ever I want! Now let go OR ELSE!" Kira shouted. She was starting to panic as her hand slipped.

Tyson looked like he wanted to say something, but he never got the chance because Kira decided to pull her hand to herself. Tyson lost his balance and fell. Somehow he managed to grab the open window. Kira lifted herself on to the tree, now that she could use both of her hands. Everyone rushed to the window.

"AAAHH!" Tyson exclaimed as he was about to fall.

"Hold on Tyson!" Max yelled.

"Easy for you to say," Tyson retorted.

Then there was a heart-stopping voice heard. **(A/N: Guess who it is?)**

"What the hell is going on here?"

They were all quiet. Not even Kira could say anything.

"Mister Granger and Miss Hiwatari, I want to see you in my classroom. You have 10 minutes to come there."

"Yes, Miss Montana," Kira replied, with a venomous smile on her lips.

The teacher turned and left. Kira was down from the tree in a matter of seconds, but getting Tyson from the window that was swinging freely outside above nothing was harder. Kira appeared soon below Tyson with her camera.

"Smile!" she ordered and there was a series of flashes from the camera.

After that she put the extremely small camera to her pocket and headed to the school.

* * *

"Close the door Granger," Ms. Montana said as Tyson walked into the classroom.

Tyson shuttered. She was scary, really scary. The teacher turned to glare at them. As Tyson sat next to Kira in the front seat.

"I want an explanation," Ms. Montana stated.

Tyson opened his mouth but Kira cut him of. She was good at making excuses and lying. Ms. Montana said that they would get a punishment and would start by writing 100 times "I promise to behave properly in the future." on a paper.

After that they were ordered to do push-ups. Last, but certainly not the least, they both had a private conversation with the teacher. First was Kira then Tyson. Tyson couldn't believe his eyes when Kira just walked out of the classroom door and smirked.

"Your turn," Kira said as her eyes flashed evilly.

Tyson went inside and Kira sat down to wait for him. It was going to be one hilarious picture, when he came out. She snickered to herself.

It was about 20 minutes after Tyson had gone inside, that the door opened. He had cold sweat and was shaking everywhere. There were three flashes from a camera. Tyson looked in its direction and spotted Kira.

"You know where this is going," she stated and smirked.

After that she was gone.

Tyson headed out of the school too. He couldn't stop the shaking.

'Damn she was freaky,' he thought as a picture of the Ms. Montana came to his mind.

* * *

Kira threw the door open and it slammed against the wall as she stepped inside.

"Hey Hils! You have got to see this!" Kira yelled, laughter in her voice.

"What is it?" Hilary asked as she got to Kira.

"Come on, I'll show you. Something for Code Red," Kira stated and smirked.

She turned on the computer in her room and connected the camera with a cable to it. Soon the images were transferred and Kira opened one of them. A picture of Tyson hanging from the window came to view.

Both of the girls burst out into laughter. Veronica and Anya appeared behind them and as soon as they looked at the picture filling the screen, they started laughing too. Tyson heard the laughter and rushed to it. A deep blush covered his face when he glanced at the picture.

"Nice picture, isn't it?" Kira asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No," Tyson answered.

"Too bad," Kira retorted. "Because tomorrow the whole school will see it."

"Kira, you wouldn't be that mean to Tyson?" Veronica asked.

"Of course I would," Kira replied with a smile.

That was when Tyson decided to make a desperate dash to the computer. Unfortunately Kira reacted to it quickly before any damage was inflicted to the pictures.

It turned into a fight, that Kira was quickly winning. Kai looked at the situation with an amused expression on his face. Anya tried to hold Kira back but it was a useless attempt. Instead she got a scratch from Kira's long finger nails. She jumped back with yelp. Blood came out of one of the scratch-marks.

Kira pinned Tyson to the floor. At this point Kai decided to interfere with the situation.

"Hey Kira! Think Tyson has got enough?" Kai pointed out.

Kira looked at the boy in her feet. "Yeah, maybe he has."

She walked to the computer and started working on the article.

They all cleared out of the room, only Hilary stayed to help Kira. But eventually Kira asked her to go too, saying she needed time to think.

Hilary was confused. 'What's going on with her?'

* * *

Anya walked in later. She glanced at Kira, wondering if it was safe to approach.

"What do you want?" Kira asked with a bored and slightly annoyed tone.

"Umm, about yesterday..." Anya started.

"What about it?" Kira asked coldly.

"Oh, never mind. You are going to publish that thing about Stacy?" Anya responded.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Kira replied, now eyeing Anya suspiciously.

"Well, it was kind of harsh. If you could change it a bit it would be better," Anya explained.

"Okay, so yesterday you had a problem with the way I deal with things and today it's about the way I write," Kira said as her eyes flashed.

"I'm not saying that, it's just that..." Anya started, but didn't know how to continue.

"Spare me the excuses. Just remember that I've been doing this a lot longer then you and I know what people like," Kira stated.

"Fine. Be that way. See if I care!" Anya shouted.

"With pleasure," Kira retorted with a venomous smile on her lips.

Anya stormed out of the room in frustration.

'Why does Kira have to be like that?' she asked herself. 'I try to talk to her and she gives me the cold shoulder.'

While muttering to herself she walked into someone as she turned around the corner. It was Kai.

"Watch where you're walking," Kai said.

"Why don't you?" Anya snapped back. "Hiwataris"

'Hiwataris? I hope she hasn't been talking to Kira,' Kai thought and went to see his sister.

"What is it that YOU want?" Kira snapped.

"Why are you snapping at me?" Kai asked, forgetting the reason he came to see her.

"I'm NOT," Kira answered, annoyance clear in her voice.

Kai rolled his eyes. "Sure you're not," he replied with sarcasm.

"Just get out!" Kira yelled.

Kai rolled his eyes and left. The door slammed shut and the lock turned.


	15. Chapter 15: In your arms again

Chapter 15: In your arms again

It was 1.15 pm on a Sunday. Everyone was sitting around the table, in the kitchen, eating lunch.

"Hey guys, I have a suggestion," Kira said suddenly.

"What?" Rei asked.

"I was thinking we could have some fun," Kira stated.

"You have something in mind?" Hilary questioned.

"Two words: snowball fight," Kira said as a smirk took over her face.

A frown came quickly on Kai's face but disappeared just as fast and only Anya noticed it.

"I'm up for it," Rei responded and directed a glance at Veronica.

"Me too," Veronica agreed and smiled back at Rei.

"Count me in," Hilary said.

"Max? Tyson?" Kira questioned.

"Of course!" Tyson exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Max chorused.

"Kai?" Kira questioned, turning to look at him.

"Whatever," he replied.

Kira's smile faded a little at his reply and she gave him an icy look. "I take that as a 'yes'," she said. "You coming, Anya?"

"Sure," Anya answered.

* * *

It didn't take them long before they were outside.

"Everyone against anyone. No teams. Agreed?" Kira stated.

They all nodded. Then the first snowball went through the air, hitting Kai in the shoulder. Kira smirked and ran.

"Kai, aren't you going after her?" Max asked.

"Why should I go after her when I can get you?" Kai replied and another snowball made its way. This time it was Tyson's turn to get his.

This created a chaos as Tyson tried to hit Kai, but instead got Hilary.

Soon they had spread up and everyone was chasing someone.

Kira seemed to be picking on Anya, but especially on Kai. Tyson of course got his share from her. He was walking under a tree when a HUGE pile of snow dropped down on him. Kira came down from the tree, laughing herself to death. She got serious soon as she started running away from a furious Tyson.

She had a hard time trying to run and not laugh at the same time. She managed to lose him of her trail as she cut through a war zone, where Hilary and Max were on one side, throwing snowballs at Rei and Veronica on the other side.

Kira saw her chance and gave a snow shower to Max and Hilary. After that she directed snowballs at Rei and Veronica but unfortunately she was only able to hit Rei. Suddenly a snowball made contact with the back of Kira's head.

"What the..." she started, but silenced as she was forced to dodge a snowball.

She turned around and found herself glaring at Anya. A smirk appeared on Anya's face. This made Kira snap. She grabbed snow and ran after Anya, while making a snowball. Soon the snowball was on its way, but missed the original target.

Kai was once again hit. This time there was no hesitation as Kai went after her. Kira heard the footsteps behind her stop. She stopped and turned around, not seeing anyone. Just then she got this creepy feeling. A second later a snowball reached Kira, smacking her in the stomach as she turned.

"That was so low!" Kira screeched, losing her temper fast.

"All is fair in love and war," Kai replied without flinching.

"Oh screw you!" Kira snapped.

"Whatever," Kai said and rolled his eyes in response. 'This is not like her.'

Kai started walking away.

Kira went after Anya. It wasn't long before she found her. Anya was ready to go inside after Kira's treatment.

* * *

Anya went straight to the bathroom, to get out of her wet clothes and to hang them, so they would dry out. While Anya was changing, she noticed she had forgot to lock the door. Just as she went to do that, it opened. She found herself staring into Kai's eyes.

He, however wasn't looking at her face, but at her almost naked body. She blushed as she realized that she had only her lingerie. Kai's cheeks were also crimson red. He turned around quickly and a moment later he was gone from sight. Anya locked the door and dressed up.

Anya was walking to her room when she suddenly stopped. She hesitated, but decided to go and apologize to Kai. She took a deep breath before knocking. She opened the door after she heard an answer.

"What do you want?" Kai asked.

"Look, I'm sorry. It was my fault, okay? I was in the wrong bathroom," Anya apologized.

"Fine, whatever," Kai replied.

"It didn't look like that to me, according to your blushing," Anya stated.

Kai's cheeks got a light shade of red, of annoyance or embarrassment.

"Leave," Kai ordered.

"No need to be rude you know," Anya snapped. "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing," Kai answered.

"Yeah right and cows fly over the moon," Anya mocked.

"Fine, you wanna know what it is, I'll tell you," Kai snapped.

"Well, don't keep me waiting," Anya retorted.

"It's the fact that you have somehow managed to upset Kira and now she is taking it out on me!" Kai shouted.

"So it's my fault Kira is upset!" Anya exclaimed.

"You got it," Kai said and smirked.

Anya was going over the edge any minute, but suddenly something possessed her to do something. She took a quick step forward, closing the gap between her and Kai and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

Kai was too surprised to resist it. When he finally realized what he was doing, it was too late to back out. Anya stopped to look at him, but it didn't take long before they were kissing again. Kai's feelings had gotten the better of him as he put his hands on Anya's hips. Soon he had her pinned against the wall. His mind was constantly telling him to stop, but it wasn't in control, his heart was. Anya slipped her hand to the back of Kai's head to deepen the kiss.

The next thing Anya knew was that she was lying on the bed, Kai next to her. She couldn't stop and neither could he. Kai was moving his hands along her hips while kissing her, sending shivers up and down her spine. Her hands were wrapped around him, not wanting to let him go.

The feeling that was going through her was amazing. It had been a long time since she had last felt it. All she could think about was his touch on her skin. Sparks were flying uncontrollably in the air as she gazed into his eyes while catching her breath. Minutes passed and neither of them made a move, not wanting to break the connection.

Suddenly the door opened and slammed against the wall, breaking the trance. Kai was of the bed in a blink of an eye, but the person at the door had seen them. Kai was making his best death glare, but it didn't turn out so good. Kira snickered.

"Is that your best shot?" she mocked.

Kai couldn't say anything.

"I should have known you two would do something the minute we turn our backs to you," Kira continued and smirked.

"Kira..." Anya started, but was cut off.

"I know what you're going to say," Kira stated. "You were about to..."

This time it was Kira's turn to be cut off.

"Just get out!" Kai shouted, pointing at the door. "Both of you."

* * *

Kira grabbed Anya and pulled her out of the room.

"So, how did you do it?" Kira asked.

"Do what?" Anya asked.

"Get my brother into something like THAT," Kira said.

"I don't actually know. It just happened," Anya explained.

"Just happened..." Kira repeated, shaking her head.

"Kira?" Anya asked carefully.

"Hm?" Kira responded, coming back from her thoughts.

"I'm sorry," Anya said. 'Might get this done now that I have the chance.'

"About what?" Kira asked.

"You were right about Stacy. I shouldn't have argued with you," Anya replied.

"Okay..." Kira said, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Friends?" Anya asked.

"Friends," Kira agreed.

Anya smiled and grabbed Kira into a hug.

"You know, just because we are friends doesn't mean you can strangle me," Kira mumbled from Anya's hug.

Anya let go and they both laughed.

"Promise me one thing Anya," Kira said.

"What might that be?" Anya questioned.

"Promise me that you will trust me in the future. I don't want something like this to happen again," Kira stated.

"I promise," Anya replied and they high-fived.


	16. Chapter 16: All straight As?

Chapter 16: All straight As?

It was the last Friday before Christmas vacation. It was the day everyone would get their exams back. Anya was nervous. She wasn't sure how she had done in some subject, like math and French. Each teacher would have 30 minutes to go through the exam, tell the correct answers. First for Anya and everyone else was French. The teacher let them into the class and they sat down.

"These exams will be given to you in alphabetical order," he announced.

The frown on Kira's face was obvious.

"Now, now Miss Hiwatari. I know that you wanted me to give them according to the grades, but this is better," the teacher stated.

Kira looked away and yawned.

Anya was about to start biting her finger-nails, she was so nervous. Finally her name was called. She walked to the teacher and he gave her the exam. Anya broke into a smile. Soon they were out of the classroom and they were free to talk and compare their grades. It turned out that both Kai and Kira had got the highest possible score, which meant that they both had As. Veronica came shortly after with her A-. Next was Hilary with her B and after that Anya, who – to her surprise – had gotten a C+. Rei had a C-. Max was hanging on a D+ and Tyson on a D.

Suddenly a mocking voice was heard behind Anya.

"Looks like the bitch got a good grade after all,"

Anya turned around. There, in front of her, was Stacy with her little friends. She had finally gotten out of hospital.

"I guess you're just jealous," Kira cut in.

"About what?" Stacy asked, playing stupid.

"I'm sure you weren't even nearly as good as Anya, not to mention me," Kira stated, refusing to lose her temper.

"Well, I guess your friend just had a little luck and everyone knows you cheat in exams," Stacy said and looked firmly at Kira.

"And everyone knows that you wouldn't have even gotten into this school if it wasn't for your father's fat bank account. You stupid cow," Kira snarled back as her eyes flashed dangerously.

* * *

They were saved from the situation as the bell rang and signaled that the next class was beginning. They split up as Kira and Hilary went to get their psychology exams, Rei had philosophy, Kai, Max and Tyson headed for their science & technology class and Anya grabbed Veronica's arm and pulled her to the music class. Their exam in music was about singing a song to the teacher and she would evaluade your skills. It turned out Anya got the highest grade of them, along with Veronica: an A-.

"Miss Saigon, your performance was perfect but you need to work on the high notes," Ms. Summers commented.

"And what comes to you, Miss Meridian, I absolutely love your voice. You just need to relax when you perform," the teacher continued.

"Yes, Miss Summers," Veronica replied and smiled weakly.

Later in the cafeteria...

"I can't believe this!" Hilary exclaimed.

"Hils, that's not the end of the world," Anya said.

"How can you say that!" Hilary replied. "I got a C- in manners classes!"

"Hilary! Calm down," Kira ordered.

"No! This just can't be," Hilary said in defeat.

"Maybe it's because of your uncontrollable temper," Tyson cut in with a grin on his face.

"Nobody asked you!" Hilary shouted and grabbed a glass of water of the table and splashed the water on him.

Tyson jumped up from his chair and so did Kira, who was sitting beside him.

"Tyson, sit down. Or I'll make you," she hissed and glared at him.

Once they were sitting again Kira looked around to the people staring at them.

"Nothing to see here," she said and turned to her friends.

"That was certainly something you pulled there," Anya stated.

"He started it," Hilary snorted.

"Did not!" Tyson responded.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!" Hilary screamed in frustration.

"OK, just shut up you two!" Kira cut in. "Geez..."

Yet again the bell rang just in time.

"Saved by the bell," Anya said as they hurried out of the cafeteria.

* * *

The next class was English. The teacher talked and Anya was bored to death. Suddenly she noticed that she had been staring at Kai the whole time. 'What am I doing? I have to get a grip.'

After the English class was their last class – math. Ms. Montana was as strict as ever and she did what Kira had been wishing for, giving the exams back in the order that the ones with the best grades came first. That meant that Kai was first and Kira after him, they both had As. Rei was next with a C, followed by Veronica with a C. After them were Max and Anya with a C-. Hilary had a D+ and Tyson's D-.

At the end of the day it was clear that Kai and Kira had the best grades. Both of them had straight As.

Anya got an A from Russian, A- in music, B in manners classes, B- from English, C+ from French, C- in math and a D in media & culture.

Veronica had good grades too: A from Latin, A- in music, A in manners classes, A from English, A- from French, C in math and a B+ in media & culture.

Hilary wasn't left much behind: B from Japanese, A in psychology, C- in manners classes, B+ from English, B from French, D+ in math and a B- in media & culture.

Rei didn't do bad either: B- from Chinese, C+ in philosophy, B in manners classes, C from English, C- from French, C+ in math and a B+ in media and culture.

Max had his grades cut out quite well too: C+ from Japanese, C in science & technology, B- in manners classes, B from English, D+ from French, C- in math and a D- in media & culture.

Then there were Tyson's grades: C from Japanese, D in science & technology, E- in manners classes, C+ from English, D from French, D- in math and an E in media & culture.

Kira was enjoying herself as she mocked Tyson's bad grades.

"Really Tyson, you're such a baka," Kira said and smirked teasingly.

Tyson swinged his fist at Kira but she blocked it and smirked even more.

"Kira, why don't you get of Tyson's case, alright?" Anya suggested.

"I guess I should. I have more important things to do anyway," Kira replied.

"Like what?" Anya asked.

"Gotta hack into the school mainframe," Kira whispered.

"Since when did you become a computer hacker?" Anya questioned.

"I didn't, that's why I have Digital Darkness," Kira said and smiled.

Hilary looked like she was about to say something.

"No Hilary, I'm still not telling who it is," Kira cut her off.

"Why not?" Hilary complained.

"I've made a promise," Kira stated.

After Kira had taken her bag to her room and grabbed her laptop, along with a few diskettes and CDs, she left.

"You know where she goes?" Anya asked Hilary.

"Nope. She refuses to tell me. All I know is that when ever it has something to do with computers and the cyber world inside them, she goes to the same person," Hilary explained.

"You haven't tried to figure out who it is?" Anya questioned.

"Of course I have, but there isn't much to go," Hilary snapped.

"Well, he or she must be good with computers, really good," Anya said.

"There are a lot of students in our school, that are," Hilary stated.

"Yeah, but how many of them are willing to break the rules at the risk of getting expelled?" Anya replied.

"Good question," Hilary stated.

* * *

Later that night Anya couldn't sleep. She was wondering who the person was that Kira went to see. Finally, after turning many times around in her bed, she got up and headed to the kitchen. She was surprised to see a light coming out of it. Curiously she sneaked closer and saw Kai. Once she stepped into the room he shot her a glance.

"You should go to bed, get some sleep," he stated.

"So should you," Anya retorted.

"I'm not sleepy," Kai answered coldly.

"Well neither am I," Anya replied just as coldly.

There was a silence.

"So, you got straight As, like Kira?" Anya asked, trying make a conversation.

"Yeah, what about it?" Kai asked, still not warming up.

"You know, even though you get good grades at school, there is an area that has room for improvement," Anya stated.

"What might that be?" Kai asked, looking directly into Anya's eyes.

"Trusting your feelings," Anya answered.

"What makes you think that I don't?" Kai questioned.

"Oh please, it's too obvious, at least for me," Anya said.

Kai knew she was right.

"You know..." Anya said as she stood up and started walking towards Kai. "Even though your face is blank right now, I can see in your eyes the longing, the desire to touch and be touched. Don't fight it, give in."

Kai was mesmerized by her soft, sexy voice. Soon their faces were only inches apart. Kai pulled Anya on his lap and kissed her, losing all control over himself.

Anya threw herself right into it. A moan escaped her lips as Kai moved down to kiss her neck. Anya felt like she was floating in heaven. Her heart was beating as fast as ever, just like Kai's.

Her hands had a firm grip on Kai's shoulders. Kai placed his arms tightly around Anya's waist. Anya had her legs on each side of the chair as she was facing Kai. She felt the connection getting stronger between them. Her body shivered under his touch. Another moan escaped. She felt so alive as she looked into his eyes as he held her. She was getting closer. Soon she would have him...


	17. Chapter 17: Together?

Chapter 17: Together?

Anya leaned in to kiss Kai. She felt Kai's grip on her waist tighten as their lips touched. She placed her hands around his neck to deepen the kiss. She moved her hands slowly down his back. Kai responded by pulling her against him as close as possible. Anya placed her head on his shoulder.

A jolt went through her body as she felt Kai's hands on the bare skin of her thighs, moving up to her waist and lifting her nightgown. She was suddenly very aware that she wasn't wearing a bra and her breathing got faster. She felt Kai's beating heart and his restless breathing. Multiple vibrations went simultaneously through her body. She pulled herself away from him and gave him a passionate French kiss.

Suddenly they were pulled back to reality as they heard a sound of something falling and hitting the floor.

Kai pushed Anya away from him immediately and was on his feet in a matter of seconds.

A person cursed and soon after the door to the kitchen opened.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kai snapped.

"Well, excuse me but this a public area," the person snapped back.

The next moment Kai was gone.

Anya didn't really feel like talking so she left quickly.

Once Anya was back in her bed she still couldn't sleep. Her body was longing to be touched.

'Damn! Why did it have to stop?' she thought.

Her body ached from the lust inside her that Kai had awoken.

He was all she could think about.

Finally Anya fell asleep. Dreams of the blue-haired blader flowed to her mind.

* * *

The next morning Anya woke up to the bright sunlight that came into her room.

The sweet sensation of last night came to her mind. She ran her hands down to her legs and back up the way Kai had done.

She got out of her bed and started to dressed up.

Anya looked into the mirror and found herself looking at her messy hair.

She grabbed a hairbrush and started to work on her hair.

A while later she looked at her reflection again and was pleased with what she saw.

Her hair wasn't messy anymore but instead it was sticking out of her head even more.

'I think I actually like my hair more now that it's shorter,' she pondered.

"Well, someone is happy this morning," Kira said as she came into Anya's room.

"Good morning to you too Kira," Anya responded.

"You sure were busy with my brother last night," Kira stated.

Anya blushed and turned away.

"No need to be ashamed. It would've happened sooner or later," Kira said.

"And you know what happened?" Anya retorted.

"Hey, I'm not a Miss Know-It-All for nothing," Kira replied.

"You were peeking on us!" Anya hissed.

"I was not!" Kira denied.

"Don't lie to me," Anya warned.

Kira made a pouting face and crossed her hands while looking away.

'Great! Now she is mad at me. I'm supposed to be mad at her!' Anya thought. She swallowed hard.

"Look, Kira, I wouldn't be so upset about that if you hadn't actually interrupted something," Anya explained.

"So something was going on!" Kira stated.

Anya blushed once again and soon they were on the run as Anya was chasing Kira.

Kira disappeared around the corner. Anya turned the same way and crashed into someone. She lost her balance and fell to the floor.

Anya looked up to the person she had crashed into and found herself looking at Kai.

A small smirk was on his face. He continued his way and left Anya on the floor.

Once Anya had recovered she got up and headed after Kai.

She had expected to find him in the kitchen but it was empty. She started making breakfast.  
It wasn't long before the delicious smell of breakfast floated everywhere in the house.

* * *

Hilary walked into the kitchen.

"Morning," she said.

"Good morning," Anya replied cheerfully.

"Okay, what's going on with you this morning?" Hilary asked.

"What do mean by that?" Anya returned the question.

"Well, besides you being cheerful, you're practically glowing," Hilary stated.

Anya's cheeks got a light shade of red and she looked at Hilary with sparkling eyes.

"Let's just say that something happened between me and Kai last night," she responded.

"Apparently it was something good," Hilary retorted with a grin on her face.

"Well..." Anya started.

"This calls for a girl talk," Hilary declared. "I'm going to go wake up Kitty."

Kira appeared into the kitchen while Hilary was gone.

"You still gonna bite my head off?" she asked with a playful smirk on her lips.

"Hm... I'll have to think about that," Anya answered. "But you're safe for now."

"Good because I was sort of getting hungry and I hoped that I could come and eat," Kira explained.

"You know, you're starting sound like Tyson," Anya teased.

Kira stuck out her tongue.

A few moments later Hilary came back to the kitchen with Veronica. Each of them grabbed a plate and piled some pancakes on it.

Rei and Max gawked at the girls who all were carrying plates with pancakes, glasses filled with orange juice and knives and forks.

"There are still some pancakes left in the kitchen," Hilary stated and smiled at the two boys.

The girls disappeared into Kira's room and the lock on the door made a sound, signaling that the door was locked.

"You have any idea what's going on?" Max asked.

"No, all I know is that Hilary came barging into Kitty's room and pushed me out while ordering Kitty to get dressed," Rei answered. "It seemed to be something important."

"What were you doing in Kitty's at this time of day anyway?" Max asked curiously with a half-smile on his face.

A light blush came to Rei's cheeks as he realized what he had said.

"It's nothing like that," he replied.

"Like what?" Max questioned as his smile widened.

"Just forget what I said," Rei ordered and pushed Max to the stairs.

* * *

After lunch the girls decided to go ice-skating. They managed to get Rei and Max to tag along.

Once they were there, Anya tied her ice-skates quickly and dashed to the ice.

She and Kira raced around for a while before slowing down to watch the others...

Hilary was having trouble not falling to the ice. Max was helping her and eventually she got the hang of it.

Veronica, on the other hand, was gliding gracefully on the ice and Rei was chasing her every once in a while. Sometimes they would laugh at something.

"She's so different with him," Kira said suddenly.

"Huh? What did you say?" Anya asked.

"Look at her," Kira said. "She doesn't seem shy at all, unlike usually."

Anya looked at Veronica and Rei and saw Rei plant a kiss on Veronica's cheek.

"Love can have amazing effects on people," Anya stated. "You should try it too."

"What, love?" Kira asked in disbelief.

"Yes, love," Anya answered firmly.

"Why? It only gets you in trouble eventually," Kira replied.

"Come on, I know you don't believe that," Anya argued.

"Don't I? You should have seen how broken Kai was, when you were gone," Kira retorted.

Sadness reflected from Anya's face for a moment before she continued. "It's worth it in the end."

"Maybe. I'm not sure I can agree with that," Kira whispered and headed to Hilary and Max.

Anya decided to leave. On her way back, she ran into Tyson.

"They're still there," she said before she continued her way.

'I have to talk to him,' Anya thought as she opened the door and let herself into the house.

* * *

She dropped her skates into her room first.

Anya took a deep breathe before knocking on Kai's door.

"What?" came an irritated reply.

Anya opened the door slowly and stepped inside.

"Oh, it's you," Kai said as he glanced at her.

"Kai, we need to talk," Anya stated, sitting on the desk, where Kai was reading a book.

"About what?" Kai asked, looking her straight in the eyes.

"About us," Anya answered matter-of-factly.

"There is no us," Kai replied.

"What about last night? Didn't that mean anything to you?" Anya asked.

"You just have to forget that it ever happened," Kai said coldly.

"I can't do that. I don't think I even want to," Anya responded.

"Look, you can't have me. No one can," Kai stated. "Now go, I've got things to do."

Anya walked to the door and glanced back at Kai.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked.

"I just wanted to say something to you," Anya answered.

"What?" Kai questioned.

"I love you." After those words the door closed and Anya was gone.

Kai felt an urge to run after her but resisted.  
Even though he didn't want to admit it, he wanted her back.  
His mind and heart were battling for control and it was ripping him to pieces.

At the same time Anya was sitting in her room, staring out of the window.  
Snowflakes were slowly and gracefully falling from the sky.  
Thoughts were circling in Anya's mind.

'I don't think I can take this much longer. First he is kissing me and then telling me to leave and forget about him,' Anya thought sadly. 'I have to know. I have to know for sure if he wants me back.'


	18. Chapter 18: Shopping a la Kira

Chapter 18: Shopping a la Kira

It was February 6th. A sunny Saturday.

Veronica opened her eyes, only to close them again from the bright sunlight. She stirred a little and jolted as she felt something tighten on her waist. She looked and found a pair of hands wrapped around her firmly. For a short moment she went into panic, but relaxed as she remembered. She slowly started moving the hands from her waist. She was almost free as she was suddenly pulled back.

"Where do you think you're going... Kitten?" Rei asked.

Veronica giggled at the pet name.

"I was thinking about getting out of bed and helping Anya with breakfast," she answered and turned around to face him.

Rei pulled her closer possessively. "It's only 8.30 am," he said.

"I know," came Veronica's sympathetic reply.

She leaned closer and stopped only an inch away from Rei's face and looked him in the eyes, before she quickly closed the gap and kissed him.

It was a slow and definitely pleasureable kiss. A light reddish color made its way to Veronica's cheeks as they kissed, making her look almost radiant – literally.

"You look cute like that," Rei stated as he smiled widely at her.

"What do you mean?" Veronica questioned.

"Look in the mirror," Rei responded.

Veronica went in front of the mirror and she noticed immediately her reddish cheeks.

She blushed, making her cheeks even redder.

"I had no idea..." she muttered sheepishly.

Rei walked to her side and grabbed her into a sweet embrace.

Veronica felt like melting in his arms. Somehow they managed to end up on the bed again.

"You know," Veronica said as Rei was kissing her and moving slowly up her neck. "I should go before the others lose their patience."

"Why?" Rei asked between kisses.

"Why? Because you know Kira," Veronica answered.

"But Kitten..." Rei complained.

At that moment there was a knock heard from the door.

"Hurry up Kitty!" they heard Kira yell.

"You see?" Veronica said and went to get dressed, leaving Rei a little dazed.

When she noticed he wasn't leaving, she turned around.

"Rei, you should go now," she muttered.

A slight blush came to Rei's face as he realized the situation.

Veronica guided him to the door and kissed him lightly before closing it.

"Well, well, well..." Kira said as Rei came out.

"What?" Rei asked.

"You sure have gotten some new sides out from Kitty," Kira stated. "You have even managed to get rid of some of the innocence."

"Well, I don't think I'm the only one who has had that kind of influence on her," Rei retorted.

"Watch your mouth Cat Boy," Kira replied, with a smirk and walked away.

* * *

"Finally," Kira snorted as Veronica appeared into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," Veronica apologized immediately.

"What were you doing that made you late?" Kira interrogated. "I can't remember a single time that you were late for something before."

A blush appeared on Veronica's cheeks. "Umm, Rei was with me."

"I know that," Kira stated. "Tell me something I don't know."

"Hey, Kira. I think it isn't our business," Anya cut in.

Kira made a pouting face but let the subject go.

"Okay, we have stuff to do today," Hilary stated. "I'm sure you haven't forgotten."

"Yeah, shopping," Anya replied. "After all there's only one week until Valentine's Day."

"We'll have to go to the mall," Hilary said.

"I have a better idea," Kira declared. "The mall has a small and not so good selection of clothes for these kind of purposes."

"What are you suggesting?" Anya asked.

"You'll just have to find out," Kira answered with a wide smile on her face.

* * *

Hours later at an airport...

"I can't believe this!" Hilary exclaimed. "Paris!"

"Yes, Paris!" Kira stated. "The city of elegance and romance."

"Romance? Kira, is there something going on with you?" Anya questioned.

"No! What are you thinking!" Kira replied in shock.

"Why Paris then?" Anya asked curiously.

"Well, if you want to get my brother back, you have to be at your best and nothing less," Kira retorted.

"So, let's get going," Anya said.

"Hold on, not so fast," Kira cut in. "We won't get any shopping done like this."

"What now?" Hilary complained.

"Let's divide into pairs," Kira ordered. "Me and Anya, Hilary and Kitty."

"We'll have to meet later," Hilary replied.

After going separate ways they went into shops to look for proper clothing. Kira made Anya dress up in at least 20 different dresses. All of them looked extremely good on her but the problem was that Anya felt none of them really suited her.

"I'm telling you Anya, we're never going to find anything like this," Kira stated in frustration.

"I'm sorry," Anya said.

She felt guilty because Kira was giving her all this help, yet she chose to be picky.

"You're impossible!" Kira yelled and left.

This made Anya feel even worse. 'Great! Now I've pissed off Kira.'

* * *

Later they met in a café. Anya was the last one to arrive.

"Any luck, Anya?" Hilary asked.

"Well, actually yes," Anya answered.

Kira glanced quickly at Anya but turned away before anyone noticed.

"Umm, Kira," Anya said. "I was wondering if you could come and look at it."

"Sure," Kira replied with an icy tone.

"What about you?" Anya asked. "Has anyone of you found anything?"

"Kitty has found a dress," Hilary stated. "She is still going to keep looking though, to consider all the possibilities."

"What about you Hils?" Anya questioned.

"Hilary has found something too but she hasn't decided to buy it," Kira cut in.

"It's so expensive," Hilary explained.

"Hilary, if the price is a problem then I'll help you out," Anya offered.

"I don't know Anya," Hilary said. "I don't want to be any trouble."

"Hey, we are friends! Friends are supposed to help each other," Anya exclaimed.

"Besides, I'd much rather buy you that dress then see you wearing some cheap, second-class rag!" Kira exclaimed.

The girls finished drinking their coffees and left to continue their shopping spree.

* * *

Now that they had decided on clothes, it was time to think about other accessories, like shoes, jewelry and cosmetics.

"So Kira, what are you wearing?" Anya asked as she was changing clothes after she had shown Kira what she planned to wear.

"It's a surprise," Kira answered. "The dress isn't ready yet. I wanted some modifications on it."

"How are you going to get it then?" Anya questioned.

"They're going to send it to me," Kira revealed. "It should arrive next Friday."

"Isn't that risky?" Anya pointed out.

"Maybe," Kira responded.

"I mean, what if the dress isn't good?" Anya worried.

"Then someone is going to lose their head for that," Kira replied as her eyes flashed.

Anya and Kira left the small boutique and headed to another one, this time to look for shoes.

"Now, back to the main subject – you," Kira said as they entered.

"What about you?" Anya questioned.

"I have already figured out everything that concerns me," Kira stated.

"Someone sure is secretive," Anya muttered.

"Hey! I have a right to be secretive," Kira exclaimed.

A saleswoman walked to them.

"Can I help you?" she asked as her gaze scanned them from head to toe.

You could clearly see she disliked the way Kira dressed.

"My friend needs a pair of shoes," Kira answered with a venomous smile on her lips.

She had noticed the look the saleswoman had given her.

They answered a few more questions and after that the saleswoman started suggesting different kinds of shoes.

Kira became more disgusted with each pair of shoes they saw.

Finally she burst out. "Do you have any idea of what you're doing!"

"Excuse me?" the saleswoman responded with a fake smile.

"Excuse you! You're nothing but a pathetic excuse yourself!" Kira raged.

"How dare you speak to me like that!" the woman said in shock.

"I say exactly what I want," Kira informed her coldly. "Don't bother to kick us out. We're leaving anyway."

With that she grabbed the hand of a shocked Anya and dragged her out.

At the door, Kira turned around before leaving. "Remember, the costumer is always right."

* * *

Anya recovered once they were on the street.

"Someone sure lost her nerves," she stated.

"The woman was an idiot!" Kira responded to her.

"You're right," Anya admitted.

"It's amazing how many idiots there are in this world," Kira stated.

At that moment a man came running around a corner and almost ran over Kira.

"Watch it!" Kira shouted at him but did go after the guy.

"So, what now?" Anya asked.

"I'm too tired to go after him. We'll just head to the mall. I know a good shop there," Kira answered.

"You think we'll find something there?" Anya questioned.

"They haven't let me down yet," Kira replied confidently.

It turned out that this wasn't going to be first time they let her down. Anya didn't walk out of the boutique with empty hands.

"You know, this isn't fair," Anya stated. "You know exactly what I'm going to wear and I don't know anything about you."

"Quit complaining. You'll see on Valentine's Day, just like everyone else," Kira retorted.

Anya made a pouting face.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can tell you that I'm still missing the proper lingerie," Kira admitted.

Soon Anya found herself with Kira, looking for lingerie.

Kira was busy looking at a bra when a voice made its way to her hearing.

"Ya buying that?" a sneaky voice asked.

"Don't think so," Kira answered without looking at the person.

"Pity. It would have looked good on you," the male responded.

"And how would you know?" Kira snapped as she turned around.

"With a body like that..." the man answered and whistled at Kira.

Kira's eyes widened as she realized who the person was.

"You!" she exclaimed.

Anya was coming back to Kira as she noticed the man that had literally ran into them earlier. The whole world just seemed to stop as she saw Kira slap the guy.

"Now, get lost," Kira growled.

"Or else?" the man asked in a mocking tone.

"Kira!" Anya cut in. "Let it go. The guy isn't worth it."

Kira looked at Anya with a calculating expression and then at the man.

"Whatever," she said and started to walk away, Anya following.

"Look at the little girl getting scared," the man said mockingly.

That was the last straw that drove Kira over the edge. She turned around and slammed the man against the wall.

"Look you idiot," Kira snarled. "I don't like to hurt people but you're making it really hard for me to resist the temptation."

"Like a PUNY girl like you could do something," the man responded, trying to get free from Kira's grasp.

His facial expression changed rapidly as he realized he wasn't able to do it.

"Am I sensing a little panic?" Kira asked with an evil smirk on her face.

"Okay Kira, you scared the shit out of him, now let's go," Anya cut in.

"This person deserves a punishment," Kira said, getting serious.

20 minutes later they left the store.

"Okay, now that we're done with shopping we can head home," Kira stated.

"Good. I hate to think about what kind of trouble you could get us in," Anya joked.

A smirk came to Kira's face as she punched Anya playfully on the arm.

"I wonder if Hilary and Kitty are ready?" Kira said.

"Let's call them," Anya replied.

They met at the airport and took one of the Hiwatari jets.

"You wouldn't believe what happened to us!" Anya burst out as the plane took off.


	19. Chapter 19: Valentine's Day

Chapter 19: Valentine's Day

It was finally the 14th of February – Valentine's Day.

The day had begun slowly like any other Sunday until the afternoon.

The whole house turned into chaos as everyone was trying to get ready for the nights party.

"Has anyone seen my hairbrush?" Kira questioned.

"I think I saw Tyson run off with it," Hilary said calmly.

Kira disappeared and soon they heard her yell from the top of her lungs.

"Tyson, you little thief! Give it back to me!" Kira yelled.

Next there was a loud smack and Kira came back holding her hairbrush.

"A little stressed?" Anya asked.

"How did you guess?" Kira joked.

"It's sort of obvious," Anya replied.

"Hey Kitty, you mind helping me with this hair of mine?" Kira asked.

"Of course I'll help you," Veronica agreed with a smile.

Veronica grabbed the hairbrush and started. Soon Kira's hair was free of tangles.

"Thanks," Kira said.

"No problem," Veronica replied.

"So Anya, ya ready for tonight?" Kira asked.

"I think so, although I'm not entirely sure..." Anya admitted.

"Don't worry," Kira encouraged her. "It'll work out fine."

"I hope so," Anya whispered.

The party started at 7 pm. Veronica and Kira disappeared an hour before that into Kira's room.

"You have any idea what Kira is wearing?" Hilary asked Anya.

"Not really," Anya answered. "Considering this is Kira we're talking about, one could expect something dazzling."

"Probably," Hilary agreed.

* * *

It turned out that Anya wasn't wrong as the four girls walked to the school. They had told the boys to go first without them since they weren't ready on time. 

Once they met other people, they received both admiring and jealous looks.

Hilary was wearing a knee-length, wide-bosomed, crimson skirt.  
She had a matching blouse with ¾-quarter sleeves which showed her shoulders.  
She had tiny, ruby earrings.  
Her hair was hanging freely.

Veronica had a simple, yet elegant, sleeveless, sky blue dress with a generous neckline.  
The dress had two layers of fabric; the first layer was made of a light, partly transparent fabric, the second layer was made out of silk.  
The bosom of the dress was halfway over Veronica's knees and above her ankles.  
The dress was cut to her curves so it really showed Veronica's slender body.  
Her medium aquamarine hair was partly held back by a hair-clip that had a fake, dark blue rose on it.  
On her neck, Veronica had a heart-shaped jewel hanging from a silver necklace **(A/N: Think of the one in the movie Titanic)**.

Kira was dazzling just like Anya had predicted.  
She was dressed in a tight, midnight blue gown that reached her ankles. There was a long cut on the side of the gown, stopping halfway along Kira's thigh.  
She had refused to let her hair be tied, so it was flowing freely.  
Kira's gown had a long V-shaped neckline that gave away half of her breasts.  
On her wrist, she had a silver bracelet with a big, fake diamond in it.  
Kira had special dust on her skin that made it glitter.

Then there was Anya.  
Her dress also had layers – three of them.  
The first one was made out of the same fabric as the first layer in Veronica's dress. The next layer was made out velvet and the last layer was satin. The dress was dark red and the same length as Veronica's.  
Anya's dress wasn't sleeveless like Veronica's though. Its sleeves were cut from the outer side, making them hang loosely.  
Last but not least, Anya had a snow white lily attached to her hair, on the side of her head.

* * *

As they walked past people there wasn't a single boy who didn't drool at the sight of Kira. 

"I thought you weren't interested in anybody," Anya said to Kira.

"That doesn't mean that I can't tease the poor guys," Kira replied and a devious smile appeared on her face.

"Oh boy..." Anya sighed.

They walked into a massive hall that had a stage and where the music came from.

Veronica spotted Rei immediately from the crowd because of his white tuxedo and went to him. It didn't take long before Hilary was asked to a dance by a random boy and she accepted. That left Kira and Anya sitting together. Guys came to ask them but they turned them all down.

"Nervous?" Kira asked.

"You bet," Anya answered shortly.

"Don't worry," Kira encouraged her.

"Just make sure Kai is here," Anya said and looked around to find the boy.

"I will," Kira said with smirk on her face.

Anya left and disappeared into the crowd. Ten minutes later the music teacher, Ms. Summers appeared on the stage.

"Good evening," she started. "As you all know we are going to have students performing tonight."

She looked at the crowd, letting her words sink in.

"I'm not going to keep you waiting any longer. I give you Anya Saigon and Veronica Meridian!" she announced.

The crowd cheered as the teacher left the stage and the lights were turned down.

* * *

A slow, calm, melancholic melody filled the room and Anya stepped to the stage. 

She started to sing. The song was If by Nylon Beat.  
Soon after Anya, Veronica stepped to the stage and began her part.

After the song ended Anya scanned the audience to find Kai and spotted him leaning against the wall. He was wearing a midnight blue tuxedo but his hair gave him away.

'Did he hear?' Anya wondered.

Anya looked back as Veronica left the stage. She felt like she was about to collapse.

'Oh no! Not now!' Anya thought. 'Just get a grip. You're gonna be fine.'

Once Anya had looked away Kai glanced at her.

'Her voice is so beautiful,' he thought. 'Snap out of it Kai. Don't let her get to you.'

'Why isn't she leaving?' he thought as he saw Veronica leave.

He found out the answer as a new song began.

'Okay Anya. This is it. Give it your everything,' Anya mused to herself.

The next song - Let Me Love You by Da Buzz - started and she let the music flow through her and started moving with the beat as she released all her emotions into her voice.

Once again Anya glanced quickly to the audience to see Kai after the song ended. He was gone.  
A slight panic hit her. She thanked the audience and left. Once she was off the stage, Kira appeared.

"Do you know where Kai is?" Anya asked in panic.

"Relax girl. You think I would let him get away?" Kira replied. "He's just outside those doors."

* * *

Anya went to the direction that Kira pointed. 

It didn't take long before she found him leaning against a wall, his hands crossed.

"Kai?" she called out quietly.

No response.

Anya came to his side and tried to look at his eyes but failed.

Time passed and Anya tried to figure out what to say.

"Kai, I know you're hurting," she stated. "Your mind is telling you not to trust me."

There was a silence.

"Kai, I can help you but you have to trust me," Anya stated. "I promise I'll never leave you again."

Tears came out of Anya's eyes and made their way down her cheeks.

All of a sudden she noticed a tear falling down Kai's face.

She was about to say something but wasn't able to as she was pulled into a kiss.

Kai dried the tears from Anya's face while kissing her.

After he let her go she stepped back and looked at him with amazement.

"Remember what you promised me," Kai stated.

Anya dashed to him and grabbed him in a hug.

"I will, Kai. I will," she mumbled.

He pulled her into a passionate kiss and it felt better then anything else in a long time.

Once they stopped again, they heard Ms. Summers announce that this was going to be the final dance.

"Let's go," Kai ordered and pulled Anya back to the other people.

They were surprised to see that even Kira had made her way to the dance floor with a certain brown-haired boy. Tyson had asked Hilary and she had accepted. Anya and Kai followed them and Anya managed to direct a smirk to Kira who made a face in response.

Then the song began. It was Heaven by DJ Sammy.

_

* * *

_

Kai pulled Anya into a kiss as the song ended  
After the kiss was over Anya's eyes caught a sight that made her eyes widen.

She pushed Kai quickly away from her. At first he was confused but suddenly he saw what Anya saw.

He dashed quickly in front of Anya as a gunshot was heard. A person fell to the ground as a pool of blood started forming.

"Anya. Don't you dare die in my arms," Kai said.

"Kai, let me go," Anya whispered.

"No," Kai replied stubbornly.

"Life has given me everything I have ever wanted," Anya stated. "It's time for me to go now."

"What about me then? You promised me you wouldn't leave," Kai argued.

"Kai, even after I'm dead I'm always going to be with you," Anya explained. "Even though you might not see me."

"Anya..." Kai muttered.

"You'll always be in my heart Kai Hiwatari. I love you," Anya said.

Two girls, one with long, blue, two-toned hair and a midnight blue gown and the other one with dark red-violet hair and a black dress that reached her ankles and had long sleeves were talking fast. One of the two girls left quickly...

* * *

Stacy was running away from the school as she suddenly tripped on something and dropped the gun. 

"Shit!" she cursed but didn't turn back.

Soon she stopped as she saw a figure in the darkness.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling.

No response.

"Who the hell are you!" she shouted.

The figure came closer and Stacy recognized the person.

"No! Not you!" she exclaimed in fear as she started walking backwards.

"This is the last time you're going to hurt other people," the person said.

A second gunshot was heard and Stacy fell to the ground. The person walked away.


	20. Chapter 20: After all

Chapter 20: After all

A soothing breeze blew on a warm summer day, four years had passed since the night of the shooting. The Bladebreakers, along with their roommates, had graduated from the boarding school.

Kira was standing outside the school, looking at it, saying goodbye.

Memories of the six years in the school flowed in her mind. A smirk played on her lips as she remembered all the fun she had there. Then the memory of a conversation floated to her mind...

**Flashback**

"What is it, Billy? What did you want to ask me?" Kira questioned but she already had a hunch.

"Kira, we've gotten close during these years and I want to ask if..." the boy stuttered.

"I would marry you?" Kira finished.

A blush appeared on the boy's face. "Yes."

"Look, Billy. I would be lying if I said that I don't care about you and that you don't mean anything to me," Kira explained. "I could even say that I love you but..."

Kira considered carefully what to say.

"The answer is no," Kira said.

She could see the hurt on the boy's face. Kira tried hard to find the words to say what she wanted to say.

"The fact is that I've never been the kind of person that liked being tied down," Kira stated. "Too many of my younger years were wasted like that."

"I understand," Billy said quietly.

"I wish things were different – that my mind would change," Kira whispered. "But I don't want you wasting your life, waiting for that to happen."

With that she kissed him quickly and walked away.

**End of flashback**

A tear fell down her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Billy. I really wish things could have been different," she whispered to herself.

She sat down on the ground and for the first time in her life, she let herself cry freely as the painful memories of the life that once was filled her.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and the flow of tears stopped immediately as she looked up to a pair of eyes, one lavender, the second purple.

The girl offered her hand and Kira took it and she pulled her up.

"Thinking about the old times again?" the girl asked.

"Yeah," Kira admitted.

The other girl shook her head. "You should let go. Stacy is gone."

"I know and I'm very grateful to you but I can't forget," Kira stated. "I can't forget him."

There was a silence.

"I can still see them carry his lifeless body away," Kira said with an icy voice. "I can't help but wonder. Is it really over?"

"I don't know," the other girl answered.

"I guess we'll just have to keep fighting," Kira said as a spark of hope flared inside her.

The girls started walking away.

* * *

Not too far away, in the school garden, Kai was leaning against a tree in his usual style. The wind moved his blue, two-toned hair, making it even more messy. With a swift move of his hand, he tossed the hair away from his eyes that had a cold stare in them. His ears twitched as he heard someone approach. He could guess who it was and as the person got close and was about to say something, he pulled her into a kiss. As he opened his eyes after the kiss, the cold stare was gone, replaced by a warm, lustful glow.

"Aren't we a little..." Anya started but didn't finish the sentence.

"What?" Kai asked.

"Restless," Anya answered and pressed her lips softly against Kai's.

"Why would you say that?" Kai asked with a smirk on his face.

"I got that impression for some odd reason," Anya replied as a playful smile entered her face.

Another kiss was exchanged.

"So, ya ready to go? Leave this place behind?" Anya asked.

"Yeah, what about you?" Kai responded.

"Everything ready," Anya stated. "Gathered all my stuff."

"You sure?" Kai asked.

"What do you mean?" Anya replied.

"You forgot this," Kai stated and showed an old, dry rose that used to be red.

"Here you are again, giving that to me," Anya said and sighed.

"I thought you might want to take it with you," Kai responded.

"Yeah," Anya answered and took the rose. "But I have the most important."

She showed the blade in her hand.

"How 'bout a match?" Kai asked suddenly, holding out his blade.

"Kai..." Anya started. "We both know how it will end."

"Come on," Kai said in a mock tone. "Or are you scared?"

"You know that is not what it's about," Anya retorted but grabbed her launcher and got ready.

"3...2...1 Let It Rip!" Anya yelled and both of them launched their blades.

"Dremix!" Anya called out. "Fading Lost!"

Anya's blade disappeared like before.

"Dranzer, evade!" Kai ordered.

The other blade became visible again as its attack missed.

Anya was about to tell Dremix to use Nightmare but something in her mind stopped her.

She couldn't get the words out.

Anya felt confused and as her concentration was distracted from the battle, Kai took the chance and attacked her.

Anya snapped back to reality just to see her blade fly out of the dish and land on the grass.

Tears came out as she picked up her blade.

'How did this happen? I have never lost a beybattle before.'

"I'm sorry Dremix," she whispered.

'I just couldn't do it. I didn't want to hurt him.'

She felt a pair of arms wrap around her and she closed her eyes as peace entered her mind with the warmth coming into her body. That was when she realized something.

By her actions she had shown that she cared more about Kai then winning which proved that she wasn't the same cold-hearted girl that left the abbey so many years ago. She also realized that even though she alone wasn't invincible anymore, she was twice as strong in other ways now that she had him.

'Love conquers all,' she mused to herself.

* * *

**Closing:**

Two weeks after the graduation, Anya and Kai had a double wedding with Rei and Veronica as the two couples got married. It wasn't long after that when Anya discovered she was pregnant. Kira of course was thrilled that the line of Hiwataris would continue, since she didn't plan on having kids.

And what came to the part of the best student of the school? During their six years in the boarding school, Kai managed to beat Kira to the prize in the first two years as Kira took over for the last four years.

Then there was the fact that Hilary and Tyson had gotten together. They were to get married too, which offered Kira a good subject to joke about as she said:

"Aren't they a perfect couple? They're already fighting like married people."

The beybattle between Kai and Anya stayed between the two, as only they knew about it and what had happened.

And as for Stacy's murder, it was never solved who killed her.


End file.
